


Tablet of Endurre

by DeusLux



Category: Original Work
Genre: Angels, Blood and Gore, Dark Magic, Demons, Illustrated, Magic, Magic-Users, Moral Lessons, Prequel, Side Story, Supernatural Elements, The Necronomicon, Zombie Apocalypse, Zombies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-04
Updated: 2015-09-25
Packaged: 2018-04-12 23:58:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 32,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4499829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeusLux/pseuds/DeusLux
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth is not something we should all live by. When Mycah discovers a tablet that can bring the dead back to life, he believes he has found the secret to his revenge. His revenge, however, will kill him if it gets the opportunity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> [Soundtrack available here!](http://8tracks.com/deuslux/revelation-salvation)  
>  Will update with pictures in the future.

**Chapter 1**

 The climate of Killead was hot and dry in the summer with only a few bouts of intense rains every few weeks, with intervals just close enough to relieve the populous, who by that point were almost always red with sun burn or a lovely shade of dark brown. This was, of course, ignored by a group of about twenty people who had chosen the height of the current heat to be standing around a fire in cloaks and coats.

 The strange little meeting was being held a click outside of a small town in the middle of the night. They were gathered around a large fire listening to a man as he spoke. Northern Killeadians were nothing if not curious people, and most had shown up for little to no reason other than nosiness.

 The man they were listening to was red faced with peppery hair and a roman nose. The lines of his face lied about his age and he spoke with a rough softness that carried over the roar of the fire. He was heavily dressed in a burgundy and purple cloak with a golden shell-shaped clasp.

 He was chatting to one of the men at the gathering. The dark man stood nearly a head and a half taller with a thick beard and grim look on his faces. The man nodded and walked in front of the fire. He clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention and cleared his throat.

 “Welcome my children!” he said with the kind of importance that gets people stabbed.

 He raised his hands, spun around and gazed at the clear sky “Watch as the moons rise, giving us their light, illuminating the darkness.”

 Most of the group looked around at each other when the people lining the front spoke. The rest followed suit “Illuminating the darkness.”

 “Soon, we will feel their true embrace. They will show us the Tablet of Endurre. With the power of Endurre in our hands, they will bow before us as He brings us His army!”

 “Illuminating the darkness.” Half the group didn’t join in this time.

 The man spun around again, arms still raised and cloak swirling. His voice rose as he continued “They will come to us when they are faced with his power and cry for help! Nay, we say! They must be punished! They must be cleansed! They must be-“

 “This guy likes the sound of his own voice, doesn’t he?”

 Sheersha was stood on a branch several meters from the group. The high tree gave her a good view of them. Her black dress and coat made it easier to blend in. Gabriel was sat on the branch beside her, his legs dangling over the edges as he leaned back and relaxed as they listened.

 “Goodness knows why.” He grumbled. Leaning forwards, he brought up one of his legs and rested his arm along it casually. Sheersha grinned down at him.

 “So, does this Tablet even exist?”

 “Yes. Hue Endurre was a warlock and, as you know, eventually his power corrupted his mind and drove him insane.”

 “I sure hope they know that.” The girl quipped.

 “I sure hope not, to worship a false God is one thing, but to worship a mortal lunatic is quite another.”

 “That made practically no sense Gabriel. Dividing by zero, that’s what that sentence was.” Sheersha pressed her bottom lip up against her top and gave him an expression that could only be described as ‘welp’.

 Gabriel ignored her “Goodness knows how he got hold of a Necronomicon, but somehow he snatched one and used its power. Worse still, was able to read about necromancing. He used the power that even demons fear to bring about what he thought would become the apocalypse.”

 “Nice to see it worked.”

 “Don’t joke! If Lady Líadáin hadn’t stepped in, he would have succeeded.” The man snapped at her.

 “That bad that one of the Wolfmajesti’s had to interfere? He must have been a problem.”

 “That’s why us three are going to make sure this man doesn’t get it. A Necronomicon is made of magic, and it protects itself in the form of a tablet, until someone who has evil intent comes near it.”

 Sheersha nodded in agreement before she jolted with a sudden, horrible realisation. Her eyes widened “Three of -! Wait! Don’t tell me, I know. What on Killead possessed Lady Seem to let you and Satan even in the same time period?!”

 She slapped her hand to her forehead and groaned.

 Gabriel chuckled “I wouldn’t worry too much, this is serious this time. We have to stop him before he can cause any problems.”

 He stood slowly and looked over at the group; at the man shouting loudly in a passionate state. This promised to be an eventful summer if nothing else.

 

**I҉̷͝n̷̛͜t̵̸e̵͞r̴̢m̡̡̛͟͜į̷͝͠ş̷s̶͜͠ì̀̕̕͢ò̴̸͢n̨̛͘**

 

 “So the weather intends to remain beautiful this Wednesday and remain this way for the rest of the week. There may also be some showers in the West over the weekend but overall the temperature will remain moderate until Friday, when the temperature will rise to the mid-thirties for the next week or so. Now, let’s move onto the traffic-“

 Naomi stepped over to the radio and turned it down, knowing they wouldn’t be going anywhere that day. She walked out the kitchen, grabbing her bag from the sofa and turned to her friends.

 She checked her bag for the usual nonsense that everyone knows is in their bag but check for anyway; purse, phone, keys, makeup, medicine “I’m going out now, what do we need again?”

 “Everything.” Jacob coughed.

 Rachel’s head appeared around the corner “Other than the bare basics? Some biscuits would be nice.”

 “Which ones?”

 “Plain or oat please.”

 Leonard skipped down the stairs and into the kitchen. He paused and listened to the radio before turning it up. Jacob walked in as he did.

 “Hey Len, my boy, are you ready for intense codin' today?!” he said cheerily, patting the blonde on the back of his head.

 Leonard grimaced and shook him off “Shut it, I’m trying to listen, there’s been some riots near Morepinpaul again.”

 “You’re worried about anyone harmin’ the Al’trix? Envy is, like, a little one woman army on her own, and she’s the smallest of the'.”

 “I’m not worried about her; if there is anyone who can handle herself, it’s Envy. She is an fucking Easterner after all. It’s Albert I’m worried about. The guy can barely cook an omelette without me holding his hand over the phone, how the hell is he supposed to cope in a riot?”

 “Fair dos. To be fair though, Nathaniel and I were in riots before we were able to reach the cooker and we knew how to cope just fine.”

 Behind them both, Nathaniel nodded as he mixed some pancake batter together. Leonard gave them a look as if they had missed every point possible before turning back to the radio and staring intensely at it as if that would give him the answer he wanted.

 “Add some flour and cream, make that double cream, to your list.” Jacob called after Naomi. Nathaniel signed to him. “And some whiskey for that puddin’ next Sunday, also olive oil, which we need anyway.”

 “Sure thing. See you guys later.”

 Naomi stepped out of the cave and into the late morning light. Normally she’d have been up by now and walking the dog, but Jacob took Betty out for a walk instead, although with about as much enthusiasm as taking a kick to the head. Rachel had already been up and back by the time he had gotten out the door.

 She walked down the path casually. Shifting the bag on her back, she would get enough to last them to Friday when they would bring the car down for a larger shopping trip.

 The air was hot and sweat formed on her thin neck. She turned and looked up at the sky, but there was about as much cloud cover as a clean glass of water. She turned and looked at the reservoir but had to look away again from the brightness.

 She followed the path until she reached the Gate. As she came up to the twin boulders where they jutted out from the ground, she looked down at Lower Hawksclaw at the base of the mountain. She started down the pathway to the town.

 About half way down she wondered if her uncle wanted anything before deciding to visit him once she was there.

 There were surprisingly few people out and about considering the weather. Naomi watched the few people out as they went about their lives. She made her way to the clinic and went up the desk. There was a portly woman sat behind the counter with a red collar on her white uniform. A trainee.

 The receptionist beside her was one Naomi knew. She leaned over and waved, stopping the trainee before she even spoke “Hiya Naomi! How you doing?”

 “I’m fine, is my uncle in?”

 “Not yet, he works afternoon shifts on weekdays for the next month or so. Why? You need to message him?”

 “No, I just wanted to see if he needed anything in town is all. Hi Miss Carmichael.”

 Amanda Carmichael walked past, her lovely dark arms full with three filing boxes. She was a beautiful woman, the bell of the town really, with a freckly nose and bright sparkly eyes. Many of the local men were dashed by the fact she was a happily batting for the other team.

 “Hello Naomi. Are you looking for Dr Knox?”

 “Yeah, do you need help with those?” she pointed at the boxes.

 Carmichael looked around sharply, bright expression dropping from her face briefly. “You’re uncle not here?”

 The younger shook her head.

 “Here, take this one.”    

 She let the bottom one slip down into the witch’s hand and looked round, wily, before hurrying out the door with the teen in hot pursuit.

 They stepped out into the daylight and Carmichael breathed in the fine air. She smiled as they walked to the pharmacy across the dirt road “It looks to be another good summer.”

 “Hopefully.”

 “Yeah, at least it isn’t like the year before last. Or that one you moved up here.” She took the first step into the pharmacy and nearly lost the boxes in her hand.

 “Oh! Careful!” Naomi reached out and pushed the box back into place. Carmichael chuckled and straightened “Yeah, I guess. Knowing our luck, we won’t get a chance to enjoy it.”

 “Haha! True that.”

 She nudged open the door and before the bell had fully chimed, Andy, the young clerk, was at the door, taking the box from Naomi’s hand. Carmichael smiled at the awkward teen, he blushed at them and walked away stiffly.

 “Anyway, thanks for the help. Don’t tell your uncle though, it would never do to have his niece helping any of the staff.”

 “I know, I know. I wish he would lay off you lot. I know how overbearing he can be.”

 “Overbearing?” the woman scoffed “Try controlling.”

 Naomi frowned “Well, he does run the practice.”

 Carmichael took in a breath, and gave the look of a person who had stolen something “Anyway… thanks for the help.”

 “Sure. Anytim-!”

 “Hey, watch it! Careful were you’re going, you almost ran into my kid!”

 The two of them looked at two men standing across the road from them. One was a local man, Rudy Umberland with his son. The other was a stranger with thick white hair dressed like a lunatic in black leather jacket and trousers.

 “Sorry, I’ll be careful next time.” The stranger said.

 “Just saying.” Rudy warned, the fire in him successfully satisfied.

 The man leaned down and looked the boy square in the eyes “Sorry, kiddo. You take care of him, man.”

 The man scoffed as the stranger stood and walked away. He walked past them, giving Naomi a better look at the sharp, almost elf-like, features of the man. His eyes were a bright red and his pale skin made the bindi in the center of his forehead clearer.

 Naomi gave him an incredulous look as he gazed at her for a second as he passed.

 “Wonder what that was about?” Carmichael mumbled when he was out of ear shot.

 “He bumped into that kid.”

 “No, I mean, he looked at you. You don’t think he fancies you?”

 Naomi sputtered “What!? No! Anyway, I’ll see you around, I have some shopping to do.”

 “Alright, bye!” she waved giddily.

 

**I҉̷͝n̷̛͜t̵̸e̵͞r̴̢m̡̡̛͟͜į̷͝͠ş̷s̶͜͠ì̀̕̕͢ò̴̸͢n̨̛͘**

 

 “Milo! Where is that bucket?” Sammy shouted as she held little Augra’s hair back. The child shivered before heaving and emptying another bit of her stomach into the sink.

 “In the cupboard, as normal.”

 “Sorry…” Augra sounded miserable. Milo slipped in beside Sammy and took over as the other practically vanished beside him. He gently pet her head.

 “Don’t worry about it, hun.” He cooed.

 Sammy appeared again at his shoulder with the bucket in hand “Here it is.”

 Flower appeared behind in the doorway behind them, her face contorted in an expression of concern “Is Augra sick too?”

 “Yeah, there’s defiantly a bug.”

 A blur of pink hair appeared at her hip. Ashley grinned with the kind of sick enthusiasm that could only suit a child of his features “Is it bad?”

 “Stay there, Ashley.” Flower scolded as she walked into the room.

 “Aledpha, Jack and now Augra? It seems like it. I hope this is something that’ll pass quickly.”

 “What does it look like?!” Ashley giggled.

 “Ashley!”

 Kevin pushed Ashley out of the way as he ran into the room. He was breathless and startled, as if he had seen a car crash “Milo! You need to see this!”

 “Not now, Kevin.” Sammy grumbled.

 “Here, I’ll take her.” Milo nodded at Flower and slipped away. He limped through the door as Kevin pulled Ashley back as he closed the door.

 “What is it Kevin?”

 Kevin stepped away and gestured for Milo to follow “The wisps, they’re acting all weird. It’s raining, right, so they shouldn’t be out. Sammy- you looked tired today, so I figured you were having visions again. They only act weird when something is about to happen, like in your visions.”

 They made it to the side door, which Kevin threw open. The field was dark and hot and rain was coming down in great funnels. The grass would have been nearly invisible in the night view but there was hundreds, if not thousands, of wisp perched among the blades. The ground glowed with them.

 “What on Killead?”

 

**I҉̷͝n̷̛͜t̵̸e̵͞r̴̢m̡̡̛͟͜į̷͝͠ş̷s̶͜͠ì̀̕̕͢ò̴̸͢n̨̛͘**

 

 Naomi looked at the list in her hands. Double cream, flour, olive oil, whiskey… what kind of whiskey? Naomi could feel annoyance well up in her at the boys for being idiots. She sighed as she looked over the alcoholics’ dream.

 “Naomi?”

 Said girl turned to see the man she had known as her uncle for the majority of her live. He stood in front of her with his thick rimmed glasses and cigarette hanging from his lips. He was dressed in a plain blue shirt and dark trousers.

 “Uncle Sylvester, I thought you worked until noon.”

 “Not for the next month or so, could be longer. Figured I should get some shopping done.” He took a breath of his cigarette and breathed it out. He then took the rolled paper out of his mouth lazily and gestured to the shelving.

 “I could have done that for you.”

 “What is it with you and helping everyone the way you do, it’s not normal.” He drawled.

 “Papa said that it was a Knox thing, although mam was the same. He said that’s why he loved her.”

 “Yeah, Allen always said I was the most selfish Knox. Even your grandfather was extremely giving. You could do with being a bit more selfish Naomi, I’m the only one who’s made it past fifty and it’s for a good reason. What are you looking for anyway? You lot aren’t big drinkers.”

 “Whiskey.” She pointed evidently to the shelving as if she wasn’t standing right next to the whiskey section “For a chocolate desert. It’s like a moose, what would you recommend?”

 “Nepole’s.” he reached over her head and took a small bottle down “Good make, but not too strong. Should leave a nice taste.”

 “Thanks.”

 “You’re a witch, aren’t you?” came a deep voice.

 They turned to see the man Naomi had seen earlier. He was tall and stocky, Naomi realised now that she was more level with him. Not as tall as her uncle, who was 6’2”, but he towered over her still. She could also see his pointed ears in this light, elf like.

 “Pardon?”

 “You’re a witch. I can feel that energy from you. You’re a true witch.” He grinned coyly, as if he knew a big secret.

 “What do you want, punk?” Knox stepped in beside her. Naomi found herself fighting to urge to point out that she could probably put this guy out of his misery with one good kick, no powers needed, if it came to it. Sometimes she forgot that they were the last two of their family.

 “Don’t worry, I don’t want trouble. My name is Poep, I’m heading north of here, to the mountains and when I passed you in the town, I couldn’t help but notice that you were a witch.” He lifted his hands up in a defensive gesture.

 “You said, and don’t worry, she can handle herself.” Because this protective display showed that clearly.

 “I don’t doubt that. Look, I have enough sense to respect power, greater than mine or not. I want to warn you, something will be happening soon. Like some bad energy, the full voodoo-bad-karma bullshit. You’ll sense it soon too, so I just thought I would give you a heads up about it when it comes, so you have an idea about what’s going on. Also, you could help me.” he paused and smiled in an unexpectedly dopey way “Where’s the train station?”

 

**I҉̷͝n̷̛͜t̵̸e̵͞r̴̢m̡̡̛͟͜į̷͝͠ş̷s̶͜͠ì̀̕̕͢ò̴̸͢n̨̛͘**

 

 Red. Blood, red is blood. It’s not blood, just flowers. Flowers. Flowers of war… poppies. Milo looked at the dark clouds overhead. They had a teal look to them and he felt the sense of a storm coming. Storms were moral fears, personal problems, not to worry about much, storms always pass with time.

 The first speck of rain hits his cheek. He touches it with that slowness that comes with this. His fingers blur around the edges. The wet comes away black. Ink, it looks like ink. Writing, words, books, knowledge. Another drop falls and ink runs down his bare hands and hair until they are blackened and darker and stained and it’s everywhere. The red is darker. Not blood, it’s not blood, just poppies.

 Milo… look around. Look, see, it is gift ć̵̶͢u̴̡r̸̸̛͘͟s̸ę̀͜͢, you can see, see it. See everything. There is a figure. They move like they’re in pain, tortured and jittery, blurred, burnt around the edges. They slinter and shake. The person steps forward and another appeared and another. Many people. In pain, make it stop, trapped.

 “Hello?” Milo called “Hello?”

 Someone touches his shoulder and he turns to look at them. Kevin is staring intently at him, a seriousness that suits his face but not his personality.

 “Are you alright?”     

 “Yeah, I just…”

 “Had another vision? I guessed. I was going to move you to your room.”

 “Thanks. I guess I’m just tired.”

 “Yeah, we all are.” He took the elder’s hand and stiffly pulled himself up. He took one last look out to the rain before turning and walking in the door, Kevin close behind.

 Out in the rain, the Wisp Queen stood elegant and tall, her dainty body relaxed and loose despite the rain. Her people were resting in the grass, the rain soaking them. Only important guests required such discomfort for their reception.

 She turned to look at the little wolf beside her. Orlaith was watching the building intently. The Queen bowed her head and sprang away. She must prepare.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 “Gabriel.”

 “Satan.”

 Sheersha looked between the two men before stepping back several times “I think I’m gonna stand over here.”

 Worsa looked at her before rolling his eyes, at least he did to the best of his ability being a wolf. He straightened and growled “Stop it both of you, I have more important duties than listening to pathetic angel squabbles. Her Lady had sent me to brief you on this _human._ His name is Mycah Herlux, and he seems to know the location of the, so-called, Tablet of Endurre.”

 Sheersha leaned forward, her long hair falling over her shoulder “We figured that. I think we should just move it to a different location, somewhere in the bottom of the ocean preferably.”

 The direwolf’s ears lowered to the side “As much as that is a great notion, the Tablet must be kept save. Necronomicons are not known for being easy to get a hold of. Her Lady’s mother’s mother sealed it in a mountain, but it has since been mined for the minerals there.”

 Satan sneered “Human greed.”

 “Don’t forget you were once human, Angle of Death.” Worsa snarled, teeth bared.

 “Why didn’t she destroy it?” Sheersha quickly jumped in.

 “It’s not the book that is the danger, it’s the user. Plus, it contains demon histories, which are important for their society. This Mycah is a nuisance, and something of a big one. You job is to stop him from retrieving it.”

 “Still think we should relocate it first.”

 “The reason it must not be moved or harmed is because it has a new keeper, a demon descended from its original keeper. He must find it, it calls him. But only if it does not get into the hands of Mycah.”

 Satan nodded and looked at Sheersha “The original keeper died before Endurre found it. It didn’t have the chance to call a new keeper.”

 Worsa’s ears flattened against his head, his tail bushed “Exactly. You must protect it so the new keeper can retrieve it. That shift in energy is the book crying out for its keeper.”

 Gabriel sighed “Let’s get this over and done with.”

 “Don’t get arrogan-!” they had teleported away before he could finish. His growled “Why does Her Lady keep these wretched creatures in her service?”

 “Why does she take the form of a wolf when she is young? There are some things best for only her to know.” Sheersha said beside him. He wagged his tail once at her.

 “I wish they were as tolerable as you. I must return then.”

 “Bye.” She smiled and waved before teleporting herself.

 

**I҉̷͝n̷̛͜t̵̸e̵͞r̴̢m̡̡̛͟͜į̷͝͠ş̷s̶͜͠ì̀̕̕͢ò̴̸͢n̨̛͘**

 

 The day was bright and warm and very typical of summer. It was also ridiculously hot for a mountain climb, but that’s what Mycah had done with his small group. They were climbing the side of the mountain as he talked to them.

 The closest behind Mycah was a tall thin woman with silver hair named Harleen. She was holding her sword hilt as she took long strides to keep up and listen to him “This mountain has been mined for the grail ore inside it. It has been since striped dry and left to the elements. I once worked in these mines, which is how I stumbled upon it.”

 “I thought this mine shut down a decade ago.” The man behind Harleen was tall and dark, the same who spoke to Mycah the night before.

 “Jeff Clones, you do your research.” Mycah smiled.

 “Habit.” He grumbled.

 “Yes. I worked there for five years before I was fired because I was ill with stress. Whilst I was there, I found it among the rocks and stone. I found a cavern among the tunnels we were digging. I saw it sealed within the stone. I wasn’t able at the time to remove the Table from the wall, but I am able now.”

 A woman ladened with a two year old child was speaking to a zingling with messy curls behind them. She struggled with the boy, who was squirming. Zarl chuckled and plucked the fussy child from her hands and placing it on his shoulders. The child giggled and squealed with delight.

 Charlotte chuckled behind them. Her cat-like smile highlighted her half-lidded eyes “You look like you need the break Diana. As does Taylor.”

 Diana turned to her like a deer in the headlights “Oh no, I’m fine. He just doesn’t do well in this weather is all.”

 “Maybe we should take turns with him. You wouldn’t mind that would you Tony?” she asked the man beside her. He sputtered beside her, sweat soaking his jumper.

 “No, no. it’s fine. I’m fine to take care of him.” Diana stuttered. Charlotte laughed jollily at her and waved at Taylor who has turned around to look at her. She was two heads taller than him still but she wasn’t able to lift him up due to his weight.

 Mycah cleared his throat from where he had stopped to wait for them “Anyway, as I was saying. I have returned to the location several times searching for a way to remove it from the mountain. I failed almost every time until I felt it call out for me. I decided that now was the best time to gather like-minded people and retrieve it, once and for all.”

 “Mycah?” Tony panted “What exactly will the tablet do? It won’t… it won’t hurt anyone.”

 Harleen snarled “Why do you care about any of _them_? Aren’t they the ones who hurt you, made you sufferer? Why do you care if they hurt or not? Isn’t that why you’re here, to get revenge for how they’ve treated you?”

 “That doesn’t mean that we should-“

 “Tony, do you want to be here or not?” she snapped.

 The man bowed his chubby head. Mycah looked down on them, his heavy lidded eyes held a distaste about them, but Tony dismissed it in his embarrassment. Diana looked at him pitifully. He was really a pathetic man.

 “Shall we continue? As I was saying… I decided during that time I would also do plenty of research on the subject. The Tablet is supposed to have unimaginable powers that can be activated with just a whim. They are some sort of spell book apparently but they only contain one spell each, it’s in great details apparently. They remain in the form of a tablet when they are not in use.”

 “So this tablet is actually a book?” Jeff pulled a face.

 “Yes.”

 “So why is it called Tablet of Endurre then?” Charlotte called from the back, being the only one to be really listening.

 “Apparently it was used once before by a man named Hue Endurre. Sometime just before the Warring Period, he was humble farmer who stole a book in hopes of selling it after his lands was plumaged. He discovered the book was filled with knowledge beyond his understanding and used the book to avenge those who had suffered at the hands of the raiders.”

 “If it’s true…” Zarl murmured. Timmy was clinging tightly to his large ears, though he didn’t mind too much. Children were children after all, they will do silly things.

 “He attempt to cleanse the land of evil was cut short when the original owner of the book shot him down magically, taking the book and sealing it away into the mountain. And now we’ve found it.” He looked up at the mountain.

 They could see the road carved into the mountainside and the old openings to the mines. Some had been resealed to stop hunter from becoming trapped within them. Mycah has been back several times before now it seemed because he knew the route nearly by heart now. Every now and then he would stop and look up before continuing up the mountain.

 “Impressive tracking skills, he should have been a hunter.” Zarl commented as he passed Taylor back to his mother.

 “Where you a hunter?” Diana asked.

 “Once, yeah. Was damn good at it too. Lived up in the mountains in Central Killead, but I moved back up here to live with my parents again.”

 “May I ask why?”

 “Sure, we all have a reason for being here after all. I was out tracking a zinglow, one of the big males. Had taken a few younglings. Me and a few other guys, we followed it right up into the Garpoach Range. He was smart though, had circled back on the territory. Had promised Alzha I would be back in a few days. Took a week. When I came back, I found the house raided empty, went to track the land and found their bodies. My son and mate, they must have been out farming and it came up on them.”

 “Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realise.”

 “Well, I will be able to pay it back now won’t I? What’s your story?”

 “Oh I, um…” Diana stammered “Well, I had Taylor out of wedlock. My family are very religious and when they found out, they disowned me.”

 Tony frowned behind her “Didn’t the father help at all?”

 “No… we were engaged to be married but he convinced me not to wait until our wedding night. After he had gotten what he wanted, he left.”

 “What a bastard! Oh- sorry!” Zarl clapped his hand over his mouth comically. Diana laughed and looked at the sleeping child. He had his thumb stuck firmly in his mouth. She turned and look at Charlotte and Tony.

 “So, what are your stories?”

 Charlotte looked at them slowly before smiling coyly and shrugging “Guess.”

 Tony looked down at her “Is it something to do with your dwarfism?”

 She lifted her thumb and winked “Nailed it.”

 He blushed “I see. Well, I was married once. We were actually quite happy once, but her family didn’t approve of us. No one did actually. Everyone thought our marriage was just a falsehood; that she was just with me because she felt sorry for me. So, I left because I want her to move on to someone who deserves her more.”

 “So you’re here because you want to prove a point.”

 “In a way, yes. But… between the four of us, I don’t really want anyone to suffer. If this causes harm to anyone, I want out.”

 “Here here.” Zarl nodded.

 “Hurry up you lot! We’re almost there.” Jeff called back to them from his ledge. They hurried after him. Harleen and Jeff were stood either side of Mycah, staring up at an old mine, when they caught up. Tony was panting heavily. The wood supporting the entrance was old and weather worn.

 Diana despaired at the sight. She had wanted to go and see the Tablet as it immerged from the caverns but she could feel Taylor shift slightly in her arms and stepped back from the entrance. Tony also held similar despair. He looked at Mycah “I have asthma.”

 “Then you must wait here. We’ll be back within a few minutes.” The man said stiffly.

 Tony looked devastated. Harleen scoffed at him as she spun on her heels and followed Mycah in. Charlotte sat down on the group of rocks beside the entrance and Zarl turned to the remaining group.

 “I’ll tell you everything that happened.” He grinned before running after the group.

 Diana sat down beside Charlotte. She sighed and let her little boy rest gently on her lap. The air was thinner but clearer up here. The clear afternoon gave a fantastic view of the land. They were on the edge of the mountain range and the white grey stone was visible on all sides.

 Below them was a valley filled with trees and a long river that swept along the land and into a silver line in the distance. The track they had taken was an ugly zigzagging line in the mountainside and they could make out were some edges jutted out more. They couldn’t hear anything but the wind and some distant birdsong. The summer had been kind this year, less searing than the year before.

 Charlotte breathed in the smell of pine and damp wood. She realised with a sudden clarity that the old Time Temple was on the other side of this mountain range. The old Precursor city would be pleasant to be in on a day like this she thought.

 Beside them was a soft thump. They turned to look at the noise. Just off the walkway was a rocky ledge that jutted unevenly out the mountain side. Standing neatly on top of it was a teenaged girl. She was dressed in a black dress with a thick black coat completely out of place for the weather.

 Her long brown hair was caught in the wind and she smiled at them. Charlotte stood instantly. Diana clung all the tighter to her son.

 There was two more thumps next to the entrance, heavier this time. Looking across from them this time was two men. One with reddish brown hair and an old army uniform. The other was dressed in a thick black cloak with the hood up, though they could make out blonde wisps of hair and a scarred face.

 Diana stood this time. They stared wide eyed at the newcomers, especially when the girl leapt across the opening and landed perfectly in front of them. She then brought her finger to her lips and shushed them.

 The two men went into the entrance.

 “No.” Tony coughed.

 The men stopped and looked at him dumbly. The girl waved them on. “I’ll talk to them, don’t worry.” She said in a surprisingly even voice.

 The hooded one looked at the other, who shrugged and carried on. They turned to the girl.

 “How did you get up here? Look, we don’t want any trouble.” Tony waved his chubby hands at her.

 There was a glint in her eyes that made her look innocent and playful “There won’t be trouble if that Mycah had any sense. That book is nothing but trouble and you don’t want to get involved with it.”

 “What do you know about the Tablet?” the man demanded. He tried sounding forceful but only came across as nervous. He hoped the girl didn’t notice.

 “It’s not a tablet for a start. It’s a Necronomicon. A demon book, not for human eyes, let alone use. It has a keeper who is coming for it right now. He should be the one getting it, not Mycah.”

 Diana frowned “Mycah said there would be people like you, who are afraid of what we’d be capable of when we got the Tablet. She’s trying to stop us from getting our revenge.”

 The girl snorted back a laugh “Seriously? That’s what he told you? Ha! Hue Endurre was a mad man who slaughtered hundreds of people and endangered thousands, it’s not that hard to find him mentioned in history books. Warlocks are a danger to everyone around them when not kept in check. He stole the wrong book from the wrong person.”

 “Warlocks? Wait, Diana, she might be telling the truth. Warlocks are driven mad by their magic.” Charlotte looked over at the mother, who frowned.

 “You don’t want any harm to come to Taylor do you?” the girl gestured to her son.

 She turned him away from her “No!”

 “You think Mycah will protect him once he releases magic feared by Hell onto Killead? You want him safe and sound? That won’t happen if Mycah gets a hold of that book. There is nothing but horror in those books. Why do you think it was sealed inside a mountain? A lot of effort for just a book isn’t it? Quite frankly it should be at the bottom of the ocean if you asked me.”

 “Well we’re not asking you!” Diana screeched.

 The girl looked completely unfazed by the outburst “What would a… a _child_ know?! Bet you’ve had a wonderful life, with no pressure at all. You think you understand, but you don’t care at all do you?! What would you know of pain and suffering?!

 “I’m sick to death of people like you! People who act like they have nothing when they have everything! I want them to pay for what they have done to us! I want revenge!”

 “And become the very thing you hate.”

 There was a scream from inside the cave. The group turned to look down the entrance. The girl remained in her unnatural stillness. Her orange eyes glinted as she began to look coldly at them.

 Inside the cavern Gabriel and Satan walked steadily through the cave. The darkness didn’t bother them as it did with Mycah and the others. When they caught up, they saw the amount of work Mycah had done. The tunnel came off the main route and into another smaller, narrower area. It was about the size of a bathroom stall; the wall chipped away roughly. Set in the center of the wall in front of them was the Tablet.

 It was set cockeyed, almost haphazardly, into the wall, the dull grey exterior difficult to tell apart from the rest of the rock. The patterned edge stood out from the body of the Tablet. In the center was a symbol made of a circle and triangle with dashes coming either side of them. The symbol glowed dully in the terrible light.

 The two angels cast looks at each other. Mycah approached the tablet.

 “Here it is!” he said with the hopeful astonishment of a story teller “The Tablet of Endurre. The end of our torment and the start of our revenge.”

 “No it isn’t.” Gabriel said.

 The group they stood behind turned and looked at them. Mycah gritted his teeth, the zingling closest to them looked surprised, the two humans beside him were drawing weapons. The Arch-Angel looked over the two blades before summoning his gun. Satan lifted his own hand, the long war-scythe shimmering lightly in his hand.

 The man with the knife leapt at them. Satan slipped in front of him and with a flick of his wrists had caught the small machete with the handle of his weapon. He let the man push against him before shoving him back. He fell. It was enough time to allow them to learn about them.

 Harleen leapt forward, swung her sword over her head and swung it back down on them. Satan caught this one too. Gabriel dodged past him and slammed Jeff in the head with the butt of his gun. The man groaned and slid down the wall.

 Mycah backed into the wall, he looked at Zarl before looking back at Gabriel “Zarl, hurry! Don’t let them get it!”

 The zingling flinched, he raised his hand slowly and let the ignis heat his skin. Flames flickered along his fingers. He reached for Gabriel, who turned around last minute and grabbed it. The flames burned into his hand. The skin sizzled and fried almost instantly. The zingling gasped at Gabriel’s look of rage. The muscles underneath blackened and melted flesh dripped down. Smoke bellowed from them. Tears dripped down Zarl’s cheeks in horror.

 Mycah gasped and sunk down to the ground. The only other sound was the clash of Harleen and Satan’s weapons. Jeff stood shakily behind them, unnoticed. Blood dripped down from the scratch on his forehead. He turned his knife and smacked Gabriel on the back of the head.

 As the man keeled forward, Jeff spun the knife around and stuck into his back. He made a pathetic little noise and reached around for his back. Mycah scrambled to his feet and reached for the Tablet. He dusted gently around the stone to bring it free. As he did, flakes of stone came off against his fingers.

 Jeff screamed “Zarl! Get this fucker! Get him! You can do it! Hurry!”

 Zarl stepped backwards, horrified “He’s… he’s…”

 Gabriel’s burned hand rippled and pulsed. The zingling watched as the muscles grew again, hardened, and the flesh knitted over them again. Gabriel growled at him. He stepped back, looked one last fleeting glance at Jeff, who was now struggling to keep Gabriel down, before turning and running out of the place.

 He had to dodge past Satan and Harleen, who was matching him in skill with her sword. She swung the blade back and forth, meeting his every swing and block. She swung her weapon artfully, weathing it around his swings. He twirled his scythe and managed to swipe it under her legs, knocking her to the floor.

 No matter how many years she had been practicing, no matter what skill she had, it was no match for millenniums of fighting, of war. Still, he was impressed, she danced almost. Her sword hand was singing chorus.

 She flicked her blade across the path of the scythe, knocking it back. She swung her slim sword at his side, intending to cut him down, but her movement was too wide and he took the opportunity to block it with the hilt of his scythe. Using the rest of the weapon, he shoved her against the wall of the tunnel.

 She gasped and stuck her sword into his side. He let her. It wasn’t going to affect him.

 Harleen looked at him, horrified. He wasn’t even flinching. She tried to force it in further but couldn’t reach. He did it for her, leaning in and forcing the blade further into his side. She flinched and looked at his scarred face.

 “Surprised?” he asked quietly. She watched in horror as he leaded back. She moved her head out of the way as his skull collided with the stone behind her. He pulled back and the blood on forehead trickled back into the wound he created.

 He moved to head butt her again but she raised her knee and kicked him hard between the legs. He grunted and jumped slightly. Gritting his teeth, he snarled at her. She snarled back.

 There was a cry from the next room that had them both stop and look to the source. Seconds later a gun shot rang loudly down the tunnels. They watched as Jeff stumbled backwards out of the small cavern, hand pressed to his shoulder.

 “What the fuck happened?!” Harleen demanded. Satan pressed the handle harder into her chest. She gasped.

 “That fucking freak had a gun! Made it fucking appear out of thin air! And he takes stabs like jelly, doesn’t even slow him down!”

 “That’s because you are out of your league.” Satan said harshly.

 Jeff turned to look at the cavern. Gabriel had the gun pointed at Mycah. The man had a book in his hand. It was embossed, as the tablet had been, with a teal colour sigil in its cover. The scratching movement that came from the strange symbol was like watching the energy running through it. It was… captivating.

 Blood dripped from Mycah’s hands. Or was it ink because the colour faded to black as it fell. Mycah’s fingers smeared with ink and as he moved his hand away, slime followed and stuck to him, like tar. The book was unmarked though. There was a sudden sore look around his now bloodshot eyes. He grinned at the man with the gun and opened the book with a deliberate slowness.

 The effect was instant. A blast erupted from the pages of the tome. The same teal light filled the room and the two intruders screamed and jumped back and fell. They were clasped their ears and writhed in agony. Sound ceased to exist. Whatever they were hearing wasn’t making it through to Jeff, Harleen and Mycah.

 Mycah chuckled and laughed. He cackled manically. The blast from the book cracking the ceiling above them and broke through the mountain.

 Outside the mine, Zarl ran out, panting and frightened. He skidded to a stop at the sight of Sheersha. She smiled at him and he took a step back.

 Pointing at her, he screamed “Monster! You’re one of them, aren’t you!”

 She tilted her head slightly “I wouldn’t say we were monsters. We were once like you, we’re just aren’t anymore. We’re not monsters though, far from it.”

 He snarled at her. She didn’t move “Look, I was just explaining to your friends how dangerous that book is and that getting it would put everyone in danger. Please listen. You all know what it’s like to know pain, do you really want to put that on others? Will that make the pain less, will it stop? No. It doesn’t make it any better, it’s not going to take the past away.”

 “Y-you just want the Tablet to yourself! You want the powers for yourself!”

 Sheersha groaned in annoyance. She rolled her head back before it slumped forward, into her hand “What on Killead would I want that book for? It doesn’t belong to me, or you for that matter! The original owner’s heir is coming and he wants what’s rightfully his. Let him have the book! Let him guard it, like he’s supposed to.”

 “If this ‘owner’ wants his Tablet so bad, why wasn’t he guarding it before?” Tony asked. He clenched his fists, his blotched face growing red again with anger.

 Sheersha looked dumbfounded at him. She gestured to the mountain “Yeah, like being buried in the mountain isn’t guarding it.”

 He looked at the two women, Charlotte shrugged at him.

 A gun shot echoed from the mines. They turned and looked at the tunnel. It was silent. The wind, almost emphasising the point, blew across the entrance, bring dust and a few loose leaves across the opening.

 They were all silent for a few minutes, no one daring to move, just… just in case.

 Teal light then filled up the tunnel, the dust and leaves, even a few small chips of stone skittered away and the teenager hit the floor hard, grasping for her ears. They couldn’t hear anything else. They couldn’t see the blast of energy as it ripped through the peak.

 Sheersha screamed at the noise in her head. It hurt, scratched. She cried, sobbing into her knees. Diana watched her in horror.

 “What’s wrong with her?!”

 “It hurts! I can hear them! They don’t want this! They want to move on! What… what have you done?! Why would do this?!” she cried.

 There was no pulse, no blast, or shock wave. The light that came from the mountain pierced the sky, through the clouds and into the upper atmosphere. It was seen across the North West. People stopped what had been a pleasant afternoon to see the sky darken around the teal pillar of light.

 Not far from the mountain Peop was steadily making his way up to the summit through the thick trees alone. Before him was an opening where a river closed, the pebbled beach made it difficult to cross. A white mountain filled the sky in front of him and he could make out the line of a path. It was crisp and clear, with stark bright colours.

 He felt it, like a scream, high and shrill. Looking up, he saw the beam piercing the clouds above. He admired it.

 He could feel the pulse of his book as it made one last strangled cry for him before silencing. He frowned.

 “So… history is set to repeat itself. This will be interesting.”

\--

 Zagura had been nibbling on some peanuts in a little white bowl when she looked up to the sky. She stood and watched the light “Rachel, come and see this!”

 Her adopted sister came out of the house and onto the stone terrace. Rachel watched the sky for a few seconds before turning and shouting “Hey, guys! Come out here and see this!”

 The rest of the group came out slowly. They watch the blast as it drowned out the light of the sky slightly. Naomi was standing beside Nathaniel when a sickness suddenly came on her. She felt like a great pain was in her heart, as if she had lost someone dear to her.

 “What do you reckon it is?” Leonard shaded his eyes from it.

 “Looks like some magic shit. Naomi, what do you reckon it is?” Jacob looked at her.

 She was slumped against Nathaniel, clinging to his arm. He drew his arm around her when she suddenly sunk to her feet, sobbing. Everyone panicked. Nathaniel wrapped his arms around her, lifted her and brought her inside.

 Jacob watched the light for a few second. Leonard made to barge past him “I have to get Sylvester! What are you looking at, do something, you fuck!”

 "I don’t think the Doc can help us.” He said slowly, pointing at the beam. Leonard swallowed and continued running to the car. Jacob leapt over the railings onto the road and followed him.

\--

 In Morepinpaul, Envy was preparing the meals for her cats. Katie was meowing loudly for her food and Minty was pawing at his owner’s leg. Envy was on the phone.

 “Well, yes I know that. I can’t help it if they fight mum. They can’t help it if they can’t stand each other, what do you expect them to do? They’re brothers after all. I just want them to keep me out of it because I live nearly three weeks away, what the hell can I do? Yeah, no. Thanks, it would be a great help because you know how it is, they ask for your advice but seldom listen to you.”

 She scrapped the food out of the tin and quickly stirred it. She put the bowls down and the two cats instantly ran to them and started eating. Envy sighed and walked to the open balcony doors. It was too warm to not have them open. She yawned and listened to her mother speak.

 “Of course, but you know what they’re both like. Can’t be in the same room without the Mardi Gras Massacres following. Yeah, I know what you mean.” She looked at her chipped nails, picking at them absent-mindedly.

 The day darkened around her. The blonde looked at the view of the city around her. Everything had darkened.

  _An eclipse?_

 Something caught her eyes. She looked to the right side of her balcony at the teal beam coming from over the Coverton Range.

 “Mum, can I call you back? Something just happened.” She ended the call, not noticing her mother’s concerned questions. She immediately dialled the number for the Chasseur de Phantoms. The phone rang but no one picked it up. After the tenth ring, she ended the call and phoned Albert.

 “Hello?”

 “What are you doing?”

 “Just relaxing at my parents’ house. Why?” he said in a very chilled manner.

 “Okay. Go outside and try and get a clear view of the Coverton Range, like southwards. Now.” She demanded.

 “Wow, forceful much, what am I looking for?” she could hear him shuffling and moving out of his home.

 “Trust me, you’re not going to miss it.” She waited until he was outside and looked around.

 “What the fuck is that?! Have you called Naomi?”

 “Can’t get through, they’re probably seeing this as well. I’m gonna call Alexis, you get indoors and try for Leonard.”

 “Sure thing babe.”

 “Don’t call me that.”

 She dialled for Alexis “Hello, Envy. I take it your phoning about this light thing.”

 “Yeah, that’s exactly why I called. What do you reckon it is?”

 “No idea. I don’t really know much about magic to be honest. Have you called the Phantoms yet?” he croaked before coughing.

 “Yeah, Albert’s also trying now as well. Hopefully we’ll find out soon enough. I have a bad feeling about it.”

 “Doesn’t everyone who sees something like this?” he joked.

 “That is true.”

\--

 Milo sat with a cup of cold tea in his hands. He was dozing lightly, managing to get some sleep into his system. Flower was knitting across from him, Sammy beside her sewing patches to torn clothes and threading together seams that had come apart.

 Kevin was brewing more tea for the three of them. He rubbed the back of his neck, stretched and yawned. They had all been up for the majority of the night, the children being sick at regular intervals, one after another. Even the normally bright eyed Ashley had succumb to the bug within a few hours.

 It was early morning, the sun was only just rising over the mountains. The room had the kind of silence that followed a funeral or a wake or a morning after a very long night. There was no point sleeping now, they were all wide awake and they would not be asleep a couple of hours before they had to be awake again for the new day.

 Kevin poured the cups out and handed the girls their drink. He took a brief slip of his own before he started to take out the bowls for breakfast. He rubbed his eyes. Milo sniffed and woke very slowly. His looked around at his friends and sniffed again. He licked his lips slowly and placed the cup down on the table.

 Everyone looked over at him. He looked normal for a second. Only a second. His head was tilted forwards slightly and he looked like he thinking about something. Then his mouth went limp. His hand followed.

 They caught a glimpse of his dark eyes. His pupils were pinpricks, barely visible. He teetered forwards and his head slammed off the edge of the table. They all leapt to their feet and rushed to him as tremors racked his body.

 The seizure pulsed through him as they tried to move him away from the table.

 The voice of a thousand people rang through his ears, more people, an eternity of lives. They cried out to him as they passed. He couldn’t feel the presence of those he loved as they dragged him into the middle of the floor and held him through his fit. He didn’t feel them as they dapped away the vomit that trickled from his mouth.

 He could only hear. Hear them.

  _I want my mummy where are we going let me rest why is this happening he deserved what he got I was only trying to help I am ready to get I didn’t mean to step in front of the car dad I was only playing it’s a trap it’s all just a game to them it was fun at the time it hurts free me you are free I didn’t love them enough I want to go home why is this happening to us let us rest let us rest lest us rest let le͟t ùs̀ res͢t ͏le̢t us ̴res͏t let̢ ͝us͘ ͘res̷t҉ ̨l̷͡e҉t̕ ús̶̀͠ ̡͟r͡est͢͏ ͞l̴͘e̸t ̵͘͞us̛͟͏ ͏͢͡r̡̀͝e̶̢st̵̨̨ ̵ĺ̀e͘͢͟t̕ ͡͠us̴̷ ͝͡r̨e͜҉s͜͢t̷҉ ̵̨̡ ĺ̡͝ȩ̶́t̨́͞͞ ͠҉̕ư̴̷s̀͟͠͏͜ ̷̕͘͢r̀͜͞e͏̸s̨̛͡͡t̴̨̕͟͞ ̵̨͜҉l̵͜͠è̢͏ţ̢̕͜ ̵͏̶ư̡͞s̸͞͠ ̵̀͘͝r͘͟͠e̛̕͠͝s̀t̡̨͢҉̴ ̨͏͘͝͏ĺę̷t́͢͝҉͜ ҉̶̕u̕͞͡s҉̸̸͝ ̶̧͠͠ŕ̢̕e͏͟s̴̛͢͡ţ̀͢ ͘͘҉_

 He blacked out.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 Milo woke up crying. Fat tears rolled down his cheeks and into his ears. He sat up shakily. Kevin was sat beside him, the light from the window framing his head, scratching at a small wooden animal he had been carving for the last few days, on and off.It was a deer of some form with large antlers that knitted and wove together. A few years ago, when he first started making them, he and Flower had jokingly asked if that was all he could carve, but his reply had been both unsurprisingly simple and surprisingly deep.

 “I’m making a herd, what’s a deer without one.” He’d made about twenty since.

 The older boy looked at him, large bags under his eyes “You alright now?”

 Milo looked at him as if he wasn’t quite real. He had… a horrible dream. About people suffering. Many people, countless. The dream had shown him the universe, Killead far below him. He could make out Caltora off to the right below him and Farleen just over the summit of the planet, one of the three volcanos erupting. Behind them was the image of a woman with nearly white hair that flowed around her like water. She was watching the planet with her sky blue eyes. On her head was a pair of ears that suited a dog more than a human.

 A light came up from the planet and she flinched, tears forming on her lashes. He couldn’t hear anything, but he knew she was hurt by the light. His ears hurt, as if a deafening noise was going through them. He covered them, feeling the sensation of falling consuming him. Air rushed past him, grabbed him and dragged him, hands pulling him down. Their pain flooded him. They were being ripped away from something, from resting. They were resting, somewhere, they were resting, asleep.

 Kevin snapped his fingers in front of his face. He flinched and looked, wide eyed, at the other.

 “I think so.”

 “Good, because you looked on the verge of seeing another vision.”

 “Was it bad?”

 “You look like you were having a fit. Don’t worry, the children didn’t see it.” He reassured him “That wasn’t a normal vision, was it? What exactly did you see?”

 “I don’t know exactly. I was floating above Killead and there was a woman, she looked like she was in pain and then I was falling and it was like I landed in a pool of pain. People were screaming, like they were in great pain. It was horrible.” He rubbed his sore eyes “Something awful is going to happen, Kevin, I can just feel it.”

 His friend shuffled closer and pet his head soothingly “Then we’ll protect each other. That’s what family does. That’s what our herd does. Protects each other.”

 “Either way, can we put the crystals out?” Milo looked at his friend.

 “Sammy had taken the box out already.” He smiled. Milo nodded.

 After a few second, he smacked his lips together, taste something bitter in his mouth. It took him a second to realise what it was “Was I sick as well?”

 “Yeah, don’t worry. I cleaned it up this time. Haha!” Kevin chuckled, his olive skin looking pale compared to normal. Milo realised that his vision and the children’s sickness might have been linked. Whatever was coming, it was affecting them all already.

 “Milo? Are you awake?” came a voice they rarely heard so gentle. The door slide open slightly and Jack’s white face appeared around the corner. His silver eyes were softly lit by the morning light outside the room.

 “Yes, Jack, come in.”

 Jack rarely showed any affectionate behaviour, it just wasn’t in his nature as a changeling. Even so, he ran over to Milo, nearly knocking him over as he hugged him. His wings fluttered, catching the droplets of light on their glass segments.

 “Whoa, what’s the matter?” Kevin asked. Jack was crying.

 “Make Sammy put the crystals out! Now! If she doesn’t! Please make her! They’re coming!” he half screamed and half sobbed.

 “Why? What’s the matter Jack, calm down!” he struggled to keep the boy still against him, especially whilst avoiding his wings “Who’s coming?”

 “The dead. The dead people, the people who have died and are not completely gone, they’re going to come back. Something awful has been unleashed. Someone has done something terrible, they’re idiots, idiots, idiots!”

 “Calm down! Look, Kevin’s going to put them out now. Look.”

 Kevin stood and waved his hands in seemly joking manner “See, going, going right now. If there’s dead people on the way we want no part in it. Crystals going out right now. Come on Jack, you can help me, let Milo get more rest, he probably needs it.”

 “I’m fine. Go on anyway, sounds like we’ll need all the help we can get.” Milo gave the boy’s back one last pat before gently pressing the boy towards the door. He stood slowly and followed Kevin out the door, who closed it behind him. Milo sat with his hands in his lap.

 He felt a cold pit of dread in his stomach. Something astronomical was coming.

 

**I҉̷͝n̷̛͜t̵̸e̵͞r̴̢m̡̡̛͟͜į̷͝͠ş̷s̶͜͠ì̀̕̕͢ò̴̸͢n̨̛͘**

 

 Naomi stared at the horizon over the railings in front of the house. The morning was boiling hot everywhere but on the mountain peak, where they were lucky to melt ice for the majority of the year at the best of times. Still, she was dressed in her denim shorts and purple bloom shirt. She flicked one of her plaits over her shoulder and went inside.

 On the sofa, Jacob and Rachel were both sat listening to the radio. Jacob, who felt the weather like a deep sea fish, was dressed in a blue button down shirt and beige quarter length trousers. Rachel had forgone her run for once, due to the weather, and was wearing a pale blue and white playsuit and her gutties.

 Leonard was preparing a cooked breakfast in the kitchen. He had more layers on than a ninety year old. A red striped shirt, sleeveless blue hoody and dark khaki shorts. He was still walking around barefoot however, having not long woke up.

 Zagura would have been in there as well, but she was busy fanning herself on the chair. She was struggling with the heat already, being constantly warm anyway. Her aqua shirt was light, as was her brown three quarter lengths.

 Nathaniel was walking Betty and had yet to come back. She walked over to the kitchen. Leonard smiled at her “You alright now hun?”

 “Yeah. I don’t know what happened yesterday. No doubt this is the reason Sylvester wants us to come down to his for a barbeque. Even though he won’t be back until later.” She opened a draw and picked out some knives and forks.

 “Well you are the last ones.”

 “Nope, not letting you use that as an excuse.”

 “Aw come on, there has to be someone to baby us. Besides, you mother hen us lot enough to make up for it.” He cracked a couple of eggs off the side of the pan and emptied them into the heat.

 “Your case is falling apart lawyer Leonard, the court is agreed. Judge has passed his proceeding, you’re case has failed.”

 Zagura called from the living room “Case closed!”

 “Book worms.”

 “Computer nerd.”

 “Are we havin’ a pop at Leonard? Why did no one tell me we were havin’ a pop at Leonard? I’ll have you know I’m an expert at havin’ a pop at Leonard. I have shirt with ‘I had a pop at Leonard on it’ an’ everythin’.” Jacob called in after them. He rolled onto his stomach and laughed at the sour face Leonard gave him. “Ah, you love me don’t cha.”

 “No. I loathe you.”

 The darker teen chuckled. He rolled back onto a normal seating position “Say, Naomi, are we bringin’ the dog or what?”

 “’The dog’ is called Betty, and yes. Whether Sylvester likes it or not.”

 “Can I sing the ‘Big Strong Man’ to him?”

 “Are you in one of those moods today?!”

 “I have no idea what you’re talkin’ about.”

 “Hell’s bells you don’t!”

 He laughs again. This time Rachel joins in as Naomi walks over to the table. Nathaniel steps in at that moment with the little dachshund in tow. Her fluffy head was raised high as she walked past them over to Naomi, who gave her a swift pet and carried on as normal.

 He was wearing a white shirt with blue triangle and eye pattern on it. Over that was an army green jacket. His simple tan shorts stopped just before his knees, showing the muscles in his calves. He walked into the kitchen and got a tin of dog food ready for Betty who came in and sat beside him.

 After breakfast, they made packed up for the day and head down to Lower Hawksclaw to the doctor’s home. They packed the portable radio, extra food and the lead for Betty and some tubs of her food for the visit.

 The road was quiet that day and everyone was extremely relaxed. Sylvester’s bungalow was humble and small. Perfect for a single person who rarely had guests. The rooms were neat and clean and small. It did provide a surprisingly large garden that reached to the cliff face at the other end, twice as long as the building and a little wider. Part of it had been cordoned off for a vegetable and herb patch, one of the few things that Knox took pride in beside his work.

 He greeted them at the door in a green shirt and brown trousers, something he could change quickly for work later.

 “Hey, I wasn’t expecting you to come round till later. Hey Betty.” The dog leapt about his feet and he stepped back for her to run in and curl up on his sofa.

 “It’s not too early is it?” Leonard asked.

 “No, no. It’s fine. Anyone want something to drink?”

 Everyone nodded.

 The air flowing through the small canyon Knox lived in cooled them from the intense heat of the day. They sat outside in the garden, mostly playing with the dog and listening to music on the radio. About midday, Knox announced he was going to work and quietly disappeared into the house. They had free reign of the building but kept mostly to the garden.

 Leonard and Rachel were staring at the plump tomatoes in Knox’s vegetable patch. They shone red in the sunlight and both were drooling at them.

 “You don’t think the Doc will mind if we just… take one of these?”

 “Probably not.” Naomi replied.

 “At least wait for the man to come back to ask him yourself, Leonard, have some fuckin’ manners.” Jacob scolded from where he was teasing Betty with a ball.

 The music on the radio suddenly cut out and interrupted by a new report “Good afternoon everyone, we apologise for having to interrupt your music but have to report an increasing amount of incidents which began yesterday evening.

 “These incidents are, with no other way to describe it, extremely supernatural in how they are occurring. People Killead wide have been reporting instances of deceased people returning to life after passing for some time. Even freshly dead coming around as if they were asleep, though those who can express themselves appear to be extreme distress.

 “The military have deployed several platoons to support areas with large gravesites, morgues and hospitals-“

 “What the fuck?” Jacob looked around.

 “Sounds like some archaeologists have been drinking a bit too much on All Souls Day.” Leonard grumbles. He looks at the tomato again “Still seriously considering taking this.”

 “What the fuck?” Jacob repeated.

 “No, but serious, why would you put something like that on the news?” Rachel called across from beside Leonard, she stood and looked over at the radio with the look of someone intending to smash said radio.

 Nathaniel signed to her ‘Maybe they made a mistake.’

 “You don’t make mistakes like that.” Zagura replied from where she sat beside Naomi, both holding their cards out in front of them.

 “It’s a prank then.” Leonard suggested. He had taken the tomato and was biting into the fruit.

 “It’s a shitty prank then.” Jacob sighed. He threw the ball for Betty, who chased after it.

 Naomi watched them and continued to listen to the radio. She was silent as Zagura played her move.

_“I want to warn you, something is happening soon. Like some bad energy, the full voodoo-bad-karma bullshit. You’ll sense it soon too, so I just thought I would give you a heads up about it when it comes, so you have an idea about what’s going on.”_

 She looked up at Zagura who was looking at her questionably “Are you alright?”

 “It’s not a prank.” She said with a sudden surety that scared her.

 “What? Seriously Naomi-“ Jacob complained, shaking his head.

 “I am being serious. Whatever happened yesterday, it must have done something. It’s like that man, Peop or whatever, said.”

 “Who?”

 “This weirdo who came up to me in town I told you about, he warned me about something bad that was going to happen soon. I didn’t think about it up until now but maybe this is what he meant. I think something bad is going to happen, like monumentally awful.”

 “On a scale of one to ten?” Leonard drawled, unimpressed.

 “Like a thousand somewhere. No, but think about it, something magically happened yesterday that made me sick enough to pass out pretty much and earlier in the day some guy told me to watch out for something and now this, not normal.”

 Jacob looked like he was about to say something else when someone called over the garden fence “Hello? Hello? Is there anyone there? Dr Knox?”

 They all looked at each other and Jacob walked up to the gate. He opened it and looked at the kid standing there. Jerry was a dopy looking boy of fourteen with freckles and glasses and a terrible slack to his jaw that made him look like a fish.

 “Is Dr Knox not here?” he squeaked at Jacob. Dear lord, the boy was afraid of everything and everyone.

 “No. He’s gone to work. Why?”

 “Something’s happened in town and I don’t know what to do, my granny, she’s like I don’t know. The cat, the fucking cat, it-“

 Jacob raised his arms, exasperated “What? Calm down, _slow_ down! What’s going on?”

 “My granny’s cat, it was dead and she was upset then the little fucker bit her and ran into the house and now she’s in the house and won’t answer us nor nothing!” he was panicking. The kid had asthma if Jacob remembered quickly.

 He took the boy about the shoulders and shook him “Calm down! Where’s your inhaler?”

 “Here.” He held it up in his hand.

 “Good, start puffin’ on that and we’ll have a look.” He looked at the others, who were all standing.

 Leonard took another bite of his tomato “Looks like the dog days start early for cats around here.”

 “Okay…” Zagura said through her teeth. She flicked her tail and looked at her sister who shrugged.

 They walked to the car, grabbed the two bats in the back and a wrench and a hammer from the front. They then followed the boy down the street to the edge of town. On the road was a small red and white house with a neat front garden and probably as equally neat back garden. There was a considerable crowd forming around outside it.

 They were all looking at each other, then at the house. As they came through they saw a couple of men as they slammed into the door again and again. They looked at each other and walked up to the door.

 “Here, let me.” Zagura suggested as she nudged past and let the heat from her hand touch the door knob. The handle start to sizzle then melt. As it did, she pushed the metal gently until then handle went through to the other side of the door and into the hallway.

 The handle melted completely and with one good shove of the door, it opened into the room. Lying on the floor was the body of an old woman. She was dead, blood from her neck in a puddle under her.

 “Oh my God!” some of the men gasped. They backed up. Jerry screamed and threw up before his mother got to him and dragged him away.

 “What happened do you think?” someone shouted from behind them.

 “Looks like someone slit her throat.” Someone else suggested. Her throat had been ripped open, sharp tears of flesh poked out around the throat. Her eyes were wide and lifeless, empty of anything.

 “She’s not waking up Naomi.” Leonard snorted, taking another bite from the almost finished tomato.

 “Not the time to be joking!” she scolded. They stepped into the house slowly “Where’s this zombie cat thing?”

 Everyone looked at each other but for one young man, who stepped forward “I think it’s still inside, careful, that bastard is dangerous.”

 “Because the hammer and bats are not enough to cover that.” Joked Jacob.

 They walked through the hallway into the living room. The room was quiet with a sofa and two single chairs surrounding the fireplace. There was no telly but a small coffee table between the seats with a radio playing classical music.

 “Okay… so would now be the best time to ask if it’s bad luck to kill a cat?” Rachel asked.

 Naomi looked at her “Only if you drown it.”

 “Oh, good because I hate cats.”

 “Zingling’s evolved from cats.” Zagura reminded her.

 “Yeah, and humans came from apes, doesn’t mean we have to like monkeys.” She stepped into the living room brazenly. There was a hiss and a cat came racing out at her and slashed at her feet. She jumped, screaming.

 One of the bats came swiping down from Naomi. She missed and it dodged around their feet. Everyone had bare ankles expect Leonard, who was wearing boots and were dodging out of the way not wanting to feel the sting of its claws.

 The cat slipped under the chair behind them. Nathaniel jumped up on the chair and the cat came running out. He stepped off quickly, his shoe going into the back of the animal’s neck. It yowled and scratched furiously at the floor as he put more pressure on it.

 “Good work.”

 “So… who’s going to kill it?” they all looked at Rachel.

 She looked at them and sighed “Fine. I’ll kill it. Murder cat going to be murdered and all that shit.”

 But, as she raised the bat, something hesitated in her hand. After a pause, she sighed and let her grip relax “I can’t kill a cat, it’s out of order.”

 “Oh for fuck sake, it’s bloody dangerous! Probably has fuckin’ rabies, just murder the fucker!” Jacob snapped.

 Nathaniel looked that them, shrugged and leaned down hard, putting his full weight on the cat. It made a sick popping sound and ceased screaming. They all pulled a face.

 Jacob stared grimly at his silent friend “Seriously man, I wonder about you.”

 There was scuffling and some shouts from the door. They ignored it, it had been in full view of the window after all.

 “Well, that is possibly the weirdest thing I’ve ever had to do and I can turn into a cat with the right spell.” Leonard looked at her.

 “You can turn into a cat.”

 “Yeah, a witch can take on a cat’s form nine times. Hence the saying ‘they have nine lives’.”

 “Oh really?” she nodded.

 “You killed my cat.”

 The whole room frozen. Not one of them wanted to turn around and look at her. They knew it was her by the frail tone to her voice but none of them wanted to confirm it.

 “Why would you do that?” she sounded on the verge of tears.

 “Holy shit!” Jacob instantly raised his bat and brought it down on her head. She gargled and stumbled forward. Everyone practically knocked her down as they ran out of the building.

 “The fuck was that?!” Rachel screamed.

 Nathaniel signed something to Jacob.

 “Not fuckin’ way that wasn’t a deep cut Nathaniel!”

 They backed up along with everyone else when the old woman stepped drunkenly out of the house. Her whole front was covered in still dripping blood and the hole remained in her throat. Her eyes were strange looking; a light teal colour almost, they seemed to glow.

 Never has such a perfectly uniform gasp occurred in Hawksclaw on such a scale before. It was cut short.

 “What in goodness name’s going on here?!” Knox demanded as he pushed through the crowd. He looked at his niece and then at the old recently dead woman as she stood in front of him. His eyes widened behind his glasses.

 “Before you say anything, I asked before I took this tomato.” Leonard squeaked out.

 “She’s a zombie!” came a random cry from the back of the crowd.

 He stared at the woman in horror. She stepped forward and he instantly and stiffly turned on his heels and walked back through the crowd “Nope.”

 “What’s happening? What happened to me?” the woman pleaded and she took increasingly shaky steps towards them. Her hand reached out and was blown off in a spray of blood and flesh. She looked down, slobbery blood tricking down from her mouth.

 “Why didn’t that hurt?” was all she could ask as she turned to the shooter. It was a neighbour, her dark skin streaked with sweat as she gritted her teeth and fired again. It caught her square between the eyes and the back of her head went flying across the entrance of her house.

 Everyone made another magical uniform gasp.

 The same person who had cried out before was now shouting again. Someone slapped them into quietness.

 The whole crowd was silent, even the birds in the trees. A dog barked in the distance and Naomi realised it was Betty, still in the garden.

 Knox appeared again through the crowd, looking less than pleased. He lifted his wrist and looked down at his watch very deliberately and announced with aversion “The time is 2:27, cause of death: having her head made into a slushy by the neighbours. Not that she shouldn’t have already been dead already. Now!” he lowered his arm again “Will everyone return to their homes, and _someone_ clean this mess up?”

 The Phantoms looked at the good doctor as everyone filtered away with some hesitation. Jerry was throwing up again behind them. The man sighed.

 “I know something is going on. I don’t particularly want to know but I guess that’s the way the dice rolls isn’t it. What’s happening? No details, just the basic outline.”

 They all looked at each other, everyone expecting someone to speak. Naomi swallowed.

 “If that news report we heard was correct. Dead people are coming back to live.”

 Leonard went to eat the last of his tomato but nearly choked and ran back to the house “I need to make sure Albert’s okay!”

 “Albert’s a grown man! Let him take care of himself!”

 He ignored or didn’t hear him. Probably the former.

 “And this is happening all over Killead you think?” Knox continued.

 Naomi shook her head “That’s what the news lead us to believe, but you can only trust so much of what they say anyway.”

 Rachel looked at Leonard, who had now disappeared from sight “I’m going to see if mum and dad are okay. And Myrc and Phalina.” She nodded to her sister and ran after the other blonde.

 “I think we should find the source of that light and start there. A spell like that would be too large and energy draining to not be an anchored spell so it will still be in the same place it was originally cast at. If only the recently dead are coming back, who’s to say it isn’t a stage thing. It probably is if it’s an anchor. That means that there could be more to come.” The witch suggested.

 Jacob hummed “So, go and investigate and give whoever did this a reason not to do it again.”

 “Pretty much.”

 “Alright then, let’s go and get a few things.” They started towards the house again. Knox followed.

 “What are you doing, uncle?”

 “Going with you.” He said bluntly. He pulled his lighter and cigarette box free from his trouser pocket.

 “No way you are, stay here and do _your_ job and let us do _ours_.” She scowled. He continued to follow her regardless.

 They packed the dog into the car and drove back up to the house. Whilst there, they grabbed blankets, some food, their weapons and Naomi took several of her books and prepared spells. Weapons were packed up and they jumped into the car and started down the mountainside.

 They were coming out to the Forks when they noticed Knox sat beside sat on a boulder beside the road, a backpack and his medical bag at his feet. He had changed his long white coat to his tan blazer and had moved his cigarette packet from his trouser pocket to his shirt pocket.

 Jacob went to slow down when Naomi glared at him “He’s not coming.”

 Her tone set the dog barking but Jacob just sighed and slowed the car down. Sylvester stood, taking both bags with him and walked to the car.

 “What are you thinking, Sylvester? You hate magic, why would you want to come with us?” his niece asked.

 The man gave her an oddly deadpan look before rolling his eyes “Because if they are bringing people back, who better to stop them from dying in the first place than a doctor. Look, I know you have your group but I also know that anchored magic takes a coven, Naomi; you’re mother told me that herself. If a coven has decided, for whatever fucked up reason they have, to bring people back from the dead, then you’ll need someone with medical experience if all the shit hits all the fans.”

 “He has a point.” Zagura commented from behind them.

 “Oh shush you!”

 “I’m coming with you Naomi, even if you don’t like it.” And that was the end of that.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 They sat and watched as the day turned to night from the bedroom windows. The children play, completely unaware of the potential danger, except for Jack. Jack sits huddled beside one of the teens for the majority of the day.

 He was perched beside Flower for the time being, his knees bunched up around his chest. His wings flutter meekly behind him. Several of the children try to convince him to join in with their play but he refused each time, giving each of them an incredulous look as he did.

 Flower, who was desperately trying to sew a new quilt for the upcoming winter, was becoming exasperated by his constantly leaning on her. She had shaken him off several times before giving up entirely and resigning completely to his clinginess.

 The children didn’t seem to become upset by the fact they could not play outside despite the fine weather, so long as they could play it didn’t matter to them.

 Mid-evening arrived uneventful as ever and everyone was getting ready to eat. The younglings were gathered around the table in their room. Kevin was setting places at the table for the children, who were now sat in their places, neatly and in a quietness only the table summons. The twins were fussing with each other’s hair until the young man came between them.

 Milo was now sat with Jack in his lap, rubbing his arms gently. The changeling hadn’t settled at all through the night and was becoming increasingly upset by basic things happening to him. Sammy and Flower came in with the plates of food for the children who instantly silenced.

 They were starting to tuck into their meals when a noise, akin to that of a metal drum being hammered, rang outside. The entire group froze and looked towards one of the open windows. Kevin stood up slowly and walked to the window.

 Outside, far from the building and garden, was the crystal shield. The wisps inside the field began to sing in horror at what was at the shield. The shape of a person was pushing relentlessly against the field.

 Kevin’s eyes widened. He pulled away from the window and looked at the other teens. Flower stood, gently dusting out her dress as she did “What’s wrong?”

 “Just some random animal has just gotten caught out by the shield. I’ll go and shoo them, someone mind helping me.” Instantly, Ashley’s hand went up but the older frowned “Someone who isn’t under the age of 12.”

 Flower walked towards the door and he followed.

 Out in the hallway he leaned towards her and whispered “There’s a person out there Flower!”

 “At the shield? They’ll be out cold by now.”

 “No, but they kept touching it, as if it wasn’t hurting them. It isn’t what Milo predicted?”

 “It might be, I think we should have a better look at him.”

 “And go outside? No way!”

 “Come on Kevin, we have to find out what’s going on. I’m going to check.” She turned away and strutted her way up the hall. He followed, catching up to her as she opened the door and stepped out into the cool evening.

 The area was bright because of the wisps, who were singing loudly at their feet. They avoided them as they walked through the grass to the eerie glow of the shield. It was like looking through a thin sheet of tinted water. It shimmered and flowed like liquid when lit up.

 One part of it was lit up with purple white, making that same strange sound as before. Pressed against it was a scrawny man, his teal coloured eyes bright and terrifying. He was slamming his hands against the shield, which gave way in the same way a brick wall does. Only if it fancies.

 The disturbing thing about the man wasn’t the terrifying glow to his eyes or his relentless hammering of the shield or the way he half moaned half screamed, as if he couldn’t move his mouth properly. It is was the fact that most of his face had rotted away and was still rotting by the looks of things. There was maggots desperately clinging to his eaten out cheek and ripped up skin. He was not wet and bleeding but dried out and flaking. He looked wholly real and unearthly at the same time.

 They stepped back in horror. It was unlike anything they had ever seen before. Here was this man, clearly long since passed, hammering untiringly against the shield. They started back towards the building hurriedly.

 Inside, Flower looked at Milo with a grim face. The light from outside made her already pale skin look white and gaunt.

 “It’s worse than we thought.” Was all she said.

 

  **I҉̷͝n̷̛͜t̵̸e̵͞r̴̢m̡̡̛͟͜į̷͝͠ş̷s̶͜͠ì̀̕̕͢ò̴̸͢n̨̛͘**

 

 It was late evening and they still hadn’t made it near Morepinpaul, let alone over the Coverton Range, which had been closed off due to collapses in the cliffs over the last several months. It has been agreed by the major traders to close off the more unstable routes to repair them. That left only the routes further north open. It would lead them away from where they had wanted to go a bit but they would still get there at least.

 Of course that had been the plan until night practically sprang on them. The last remnants of the sun were filtering below the trees either side of the dark road. Everyone in the car was tired and Jacob was starting to squint at the road in front of him. Leonard watched him out of the corner of his eye.

 “We should get some sleep.”

 “We can’t do that on the side of the road in a van this full Leonard.” Jacob hissed.

 “Then pull over and we can maybe find somewhere to sleep for the night Jacob.” Leonard sassed.

 The two of them glared at each other when the blonde turned suddenly and looked at the road in horror and screamed “Look out!”

 Jacob looked at the road and jerked the wheel to get away from the man walking out in front of them. The car almost made it around him, almost.

 The man didn’t make any attempt to move as the vehicle slammed into the side of him, knocking him pirouetting into the side of the road. Jacob brought the car to a stop and Leonard opened the door to look out at him.

 The back lights illuminated the mangle mess the man had become, his whole torso having swung around, snapping his back and leaving his whole body unfortunately damaged. Leonard instantly lurched forward and vomited out the door.

 “What’s wrong?! What happened?” shouted Rachel from the back. She leaned into the gap between the chairs. Jacob was forced to duck to see what was happening. Leonard pulled back and slammed the door.

 “Yep… Another one bites the dust…” he half wheezed, half sobbed.

 “You what?!” Jacob snapped, horrified. He moved to jump out when Knox appeared at his shoulder.

 “Wait! Jacob, he will need to be moved to the side of the road and checked, he might come back like that woman.”

 “Like a fucking zombie you mean.”

 “Don’t be so ridiculous. That’s exactly what I mean.”

 For a second, Jacob couldn’t focus on Naomi’s uncle but on Nathaniel, who was sat behind him making a ludicrous and tired face. He swallowed a giggle and nodded. The two of them stepped out of the car and onto the road.

 They left the doors open as they walked nervously to the body. Everyone was watching them but Leonard, who was still sick.

 They warily walked around the body. Knox gripped his case harder, swallowing and kneeling slowly next to the body, which was motionless right now. He leaned over gently and moved the head until he could see the man’s face. He was about to check his watch and announce the time of death when the man groaned, causing the two of them to jump back and practically stumble over each other towards the car.

 They didn’t even stop to put him permanently out of his misery, they just jumped into the car and drove off.

 The next few hours were slow and silent and painfully unsettling.

 “We need to find a safe place to sleep, it’s nearly two in the morning. We can’t expect to drive all night and fight whoever’s done this on no sleep.” Naomi insisted from the back “And I don’t think we should stop for every dead punter we hit on the road.”

 “I think we know that.” Jacob snapped. He sighed and looked apologetically at her before turning back to the road.

 Zagura leaned over his shoulder, pointing to a neatly parked tractor on the side of the road “That looks like it’s being maintained still, so there might be a farmhouse or a barn we can stay in for the night nearby.”

 “Great, that means that we can rest here if we want to.”

 “Yep.”

 They turned off the road behind the tractor onto the open field it sat next too. They followed the trail under Zagura’s guidance until they passed what looked like a couple of dogs who were scavenging at a rabbit they had found.

 This wasn’t unusual to see but instead of incessantly barking as she normally did, Betty whined and heckled up against Naomi’s arm. She pet the dog worriedly as they slowly moved past the hounds. One of them slowly turned around and looked that them. Through the softly furred muzzle they could see the same teal glow in its eye as before and the missing flesh from the other eye, the socket illuminated.

 Leonard yelped and jumped back. He turned and looked at Jacob.

 “Before we settle down, we might want to take care of the local wildlife.” He stammered.

 They looked horrified at him. Betty yipped and try to scramble behind Naomi, who tried to pull her away and hold her. There was a pregnant pause. Jacob continued to drive along slowly, making an excellent attempt at a poker face.

 Something caught in the headlights. A wooden building, large and square. A barn, no doubt. They stopped the car and Leonard found himself looking warily back.

 He was about to say the coast was clear when, out of the gloom, came a snarling face. He screamed and leaned back from the window. The dogs’ claws scratched across the window and blood and saliva splattered across the window. Everyone jumped. The dog came back round, barking and snarling through the window.

 Betty squealed fearfully, still desperately trying to defend her mistress. Leonard leaned back, shielding his face with his arms. One of the dogs ducked under the other, knocking it over. As it did, the blonde grabbed his Glock from its holster and slide back the barrel. He swallowed, leaning towards the door as the dogs snapped at each other.

 He took a sweaty grip of the roller and took two calming breathes before quickly rolling down the window enough for him to stick the barrel out the window and take aim at the first snapping beast that lunged at him. He fired, the snapping sound echoing loudly into the night. He fired again at the next dog. Both fell backwards, slumping over each other. One whined and Leonard shot it again.

 He was pale and sweaty when he leaned back, his eyes shiny as he looked at Jacob. Tired. Jacob had a sudden quick thought, knowing that look. He threw the thought into the back of his mind with a swift kick and opened the door of the car.

 “Everyone stay here, I’ll go check it out.” He leaned back, accepted his gun from Rachel and got out of the vehicle. They watched him as he walked up to the wooden wall, then along the side of it until he reached a closed doorway in the side. He knocked it before opening it slowly.

 He peeked his head inside and, after a few seconds, turned and shrugged at them. He came back to the car.

 “Looks empty to me, it’s fuckin’ freezing though.”

 “There’s blankets back here, so we can use those if we have to.”

 “Sure thing.”

 Everyone jumped out, Betty in Naomi’s arms. They walked into the entrance and looked around. It was a narrow barn with thick piles of hay either side of them, not yet bundled. The wood looked aged and tired out. It smelt of hay and damp wood.

 Everyone bundled together on one of the larger piles, pulled the blankets over themselves and slowly, one by one, drifted off into a silent but restless sleep.

 

**I҉̷͝n̷̛͜t̵̸e̵͞r̴̢m̡̡̛͟͜į̷͝͠ş̷s̶͜͠ì̀̕̕͢ò̴̸͢n̨̛͘**

 

 The night felt longer than normal with the constant rattling of the shield. The children slept through at least. Kevin woke up resembling the man, thing, outside in movements and outstanding expressions as he slogged into the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

 Sammy and Flower didn’t look much better. Milo looked much like his normal self, being a long term insomniac. They were sat haphazardly around the table as normal, letting the children sleep in a little more than usual given the circumstances.

 Kevin walked straight up to the fireplace and began trying to light it, placing the logs and working at the flint and tinder. They watched him quietly whilst he lit the fire and took the kettle over to the sink to fill it.

 “What should we do?” Sammy asked whilst the chirr of water against metal droned on. She placed her chin in her hand and breathed heavily out of her nose. It was quiet for a while before Flower answered.

 “We wait it out, what else can we do?”

 “Get rid of that guy at the shield?” the ginger girl suggested.

 Flower gave her a look before looking at Kevin, who shrugged. Sammy looked at Milo, and slowly moved her hand from under her chin as realization dawned on her face “Milo?”

 The other two looked at him. His face was blank of everything but mild shock. He was perfectly still and his dark skin was paling. Flower barely touched his shoulder when he slumped and keeled forwards.

 “Milo!”

 A light, electric light. _Buzzzzz…_

 Milo sat up slowly, feeling lighter as he always did when he saw the world he couldn’t see.

 Dark room, smell… funny smell.

 He looked around at the musky little room. It was like the few hotel rooms he had stayed in once or twice but darker, as if night had come upon it like a black fog. He could only make out the layout because the thin curtains did little to stop the grey light outside coming in.

 The light showed the outline of a low set of drawers and bedside table. Pressed against the wall was the bed, resident bunched up in its blankets, shivering despite the damp heat of the room. Milo could hear a raspy voice muttering.

 He looked around the room again, his walking stick as his knees. At least he wasn’t in pain in his visions. He used the stick for support as he got up. The noise reached the man in the bed.

 He turned to look at Milo swiftly, something primal in his eyes. The teal glow of his pupils startled Milo, made ice cold tendrils run up his spine. He shivered as well.

 “What are you?!” the man howled, sounding very strained. He leapt out the bed, ripping the blankets off him and stormed over to Milo who stepped back and fell. He put his arms out to defend himself.

 “I’m a person! Why would you ask something like that?”

 “Then how did you get in here, imp! The door in blocked!” he jabbed a finger at the door, which Milo could see was blocked by a chair.

 “I-I don’t know. Don’t hurt me! I didn’t want to come here!” Milo insisted as the man raised a fist and punched him. He heard Flower calling him from the waking world. He hit the ground with a lot of force. He looked up at the man as he stood panting over him.

 With the ghost of pain lingering on his cheek, he caught sight of something on the bed. A book, old, with an embossed spine. A soft glow came from its cover. Milo felt odd, like his body was empty.

_̨͏ ĺę̷t́͢͝҉͜ ҉̶̕u̕͞͡s҉̸̸͝ ̶̧͠͠ŕ̢̕e͏͟s̴̛͢͡ţ̀͢ ͘͘҉_

 He shivered again, feeling like he was choking. Saliva dribbled out of his mouth as he asked “What have you done?”

 “What have I done? I’ve given people like me a chance. I have suffered because of other people, I have done what needed to be done! I am liberating people from the suffering of this world by freeing those who are worthy of it from this plague I have cast upon the world.” He spat down at Milo.

 Tears ran down the side of the teen’s face “You’re hurting them.”

 “Who?”

 “Why would you do that? Hurt others because you’re hurting yourself?”

 The man huffed and stepped back towards the bed, caressing the book in his hands. There was a bad burn on his back, Milo realised.

 “I wouldn’t expect a child like you to understand, young people seem to always think that life is all horrible for them when they have everything to live for.” He said bitterly.

 “Are you really saying that young people cannot get depressed?” Milo was horrified. How ignorant could you be? In this day and age?

 “Of course not!” the man spat. He lifted the tome and turned to brandish it at Milo “Now be gone imp.”

 “I’m a human, just like you.” Though those teal pupils made him feel otherwise “That also means that I can feel depression and hurt and anger just as much as you can.”

 “A _boy_ like you…” he began.

 Milo cut him off “I think that book is speaking for you.”

 He couldn’t explain the feeling the book gave him. It was like a burning chill on the soul, on everything in his body and beyond. It wasn’t the same feeling as evil, not quite there, but nearly, very nearly.

_ĺę̷t́͢͝҉͜ ҉̶̕u̕͞͡s҉̸̸͝ ̶̧͠͠ŕ̢̕e͏͟s̴̛͢͡ţ̀͢ ͘͘҉_

 Evil was like an overpowering hot breath over the body, leaving fear and paranoia in its wake. This was like being too hot and cold at the same time, it terrified him but also made him angry, something that evil could never do.

 “The Tablet of Endurre chose me, I speak for _it_! I am the Pariah and the Messiah in one person! I am-“

 “A fool. Hurting others for any reason is wrong, especially if they hurt you because it makes you as bad as they are!”

 “What would you understand of revenge?”

 “That it poisons you, it points blame when there is often no blame to point. Sometimes bad things happen, we can’t stop that. There’s no one to blame, no one at fault because it’s just one of those things.”

 The man glared at him. He was about to hit Milo again when a noise came from the door.

 “Mycah! Mycah, are you alright? I heard shouting!” came a harsh female voice, accented.

 “I’m fine, Harleen. It must have been outside.” He glared down at Milo again, who could feel the warm of Kevin’s hands on his wrists. They were always the warmest hands. He slipped backwards into the faded light of the kitchen and the squealing of a kettle.

 “What did you see?” Sammy asked, her pale face concerned.

 “The person who has doomed us.”

 They all looked at each other in horror. Kevin looked over to the kettle, still crying on the fireplace.

 “Oh shit!” he ran over to it, out of Milo’s sight. Flower and Sammy pulled him into a sitting position in the corner of the room. He felt dizzy.

 “Who… what do you mean by ‘the person who has doomed us’? How have they doomed us?”

 “That person outside, the one at the shield. He’s dead, and that… that _monster_ has forced him to live again. He’s done it with everyone. He’s torturing them and he doesn’t even know or care.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 “I see a pattern forming here.”

 After driving all day, they had only just made it to the tundra just north of the mountains. The tundra ran for many thousands of miles from the clover mines just outside of Morepinpaul to the mountain ranges that lined the northern most reaches of Killead.

 Out here, there was nothing but deserts of red grass and ferns and brown rocks on flats for miles. The settlements were few and far between and now, in the later part of the evening, the Chasseur de Phantoms plus one Dr S Knox were coasting into a motel on the side of the road which, thank whatever source of wisdom behind it, was equipped with petrol pumps.

 Now everyone was standing outside of the car with tired looks on their faces. With the next available stop possibly several hours away, the group were now contemplating staying here.

 “Under different circumstances, I would have recommended the train you know.” Knox groaned. He was nearly out of cigarettes and it was clear he was trying to spread them out whilst getting increasingly stressed. He was also coughing more.

 “There’s a shop in there as well, so hopefully they’ll sell food.” Rachel stretched, her normally pink cheeks had lost their colour now and the sunlight made her look gaunt.

 The motel was a white building with an ugly, simple, square structure. It contrasted with the dark shadows it cast on the pale cement of the ground. It was quiet and there was no other cars in the place. Everyone sighed and walked inside. Betty whined when Naomi picked her up, lead around her neck, and carried her in.

 The front desk was abandoned. The plain white walls reached into the linoleum floor and ceiling, which was also white. The desk had a fine layer of dust and looked generally disarrayed. Nathaniel pursed his lips and looked around at the door to the back.

 The doorway was open and, when he saw no movement, made his way around the open counter into the back room. An office, in a similar state of disarray, lay empty with one pile of papers scattered across the desk and then across the floor.

 He looked around the room at the scattered papers to the phone hanging off the stand. The computer was still on, blackened screen but lights still flickering on the drive beside it. Nathaniel heard someone behind him and looked at Rachel appearing in the doorway. She looked questionably at him and he shook his head.

 They walked back into the main entrance where Knox was trying to dial the phone unsuccessfully. Everyone was looking around aimlessly until Naomi sighed “I guess we don’t have to pay to stay here right now.”

 “Well it’s their own fault for leaving the place unlocked.” Jacob snorted.

 The world seemed suddenly too quiet to them. Everyone looked around at each other for a few minutes before walking in different directions. Jacob wandered back out the door with Knox, who was still struggling to light his cigarette. Naomi and Leonard walked, holding hands, down the hallway across from the desk and followed closely by Rachel and Zagura. Beside the desk was another doorway, which the Nathaniel walked through.

 The door lead into a plan room with the same linoleum flooring and tables lining the floor. There was a few decorative lights and a shelf in the corner with dinning condiments lining the top of it. There was a closed shutter beside that. Other than that, the room was white and clinical.

 There was a hallway on the other side of the room to, he discovered, the toilets and the entrance to the kitchens. He pushed through the door and into the metal room that made up the kitchen. It looked like it had been swept clean and polished and everything put away except for a small battery run radio on the counter.

 He walked up to it and picked it up; turning it over and inspecting it for batteries. They were in, he grinned and walked back into the main reception, just as Jacob walked down the corridor the girls and Leonard had walked down.

 Knox was breathing in his cigarette in slowly. His breathing sounded less raspy, Nathaniel hadn’t even noticed how bad it had gotten. He seemed to be relaxing as well.

 They were standing in the entrance for the shop it seemed. As well the front desk, there was knocked over shelf on the counter with packets of gum scattered along the ground. Knox walked behind and took two packets of cigarettes from the shelves behind it and took a small bottle of aspirin as well.

 “Ain’t you not supposed to mix those?” Jacob asked.

 “Do as I say, not as I do.” The doctor replied as he took a small juice from Zagura, who was raiding the drinks cooler, and emptied two of the little white pills into his hand.

 Everyone looked around at each other in the same manner as strangers in a party do after their mutual friend gives names and walks away. Nathaniel lifted the radio up into the air and shook it for everyone to see.

 He placed it on the counter and turned it on. It screeched in protest. Naomi looked at him “Where’d you find it?”

 ‘Kitchen’ he signed.

 “Maybe it only works in there because that signal is shit.” Rachel rubbed at her eye. Zagura handed her a bottle of water “Lead the way.”

 He guided them back into the dining room where the radio made a sudden howl and started speaking clearly. Everyone gathered round it but it protested by crackling loudly. They sat at one of the tables and listened to the deep voice.

 “-into the night. There have been riots in south Galoway over the course of the morning due to protests over the distribution of food due to shops closing. These riots will continue until food is fair dispersed to those who need it most according to one of the rioters. Now on to Mike, one of the protestors.”

 “Yes, hello. Well, in all fairness, these resources are not being given out at all to the people, instead shops and other _closed_ businesses are receiving the supplies. There are ill and disabled people living in this area, old, and young families with children to feed. They need to give the food to them first, not even the hospital is receiving anything.”

 “Thank you for that. Announcements from the Cathedral state…”

 They spent the next few hours exploring the place, as evening turned to night. They were in the middle of eating breakfast-for-dinner, still listening to the radio. The announcement changed pace shortly before they finished.

 “Officials from the military insist that they are doing the best they can with the resources they have. One second… who’s that Abby? What’s going- you’re not allowed in here! Wait! Wait! Get out of here! What the fuck do you think you’re doing?! Get out! Get the fuck outta here!”

 “I’m sorry, but we have to make an announcement.” Came another, calmer voice.

 “You have no authority to do this. Get out of here! Step back, move back, don’t! Don’t you dare! Wait, stop! There’s no need to…” the radio presenter’s voice faded out and the calm voice replaced it.

 “Please understand that this needs to be done. I will only have about five minutes of the listeners’ time, don’t worry.” There was shuffling as the person sat down “Good evening everyone. My name is Mycah Herlux and my companions and I are here to announce that there is salvation for everyone during this time of peril and chaos. I can assure you, there is no need for alarm.”

 Everyone was staring at the radio by this stage. The voice continued “These times are difficult for everyone, however that does not mean that everyone will be treated the same, or even fairly. There are those amongst you who are listening who have committed a grievous crime. _Many_ of you have in fact. There are those amongst you who have forced others to live retched lives, unbearable lives. As such, it has been seen fit to punish you by bringing about the end. The end of what, we do not know, but there is a way to save yourself. Come to us and redeem yourself for a new beginning. We will create it together.

 “We will be gathering people at the Prescott Community Hall in South East Capital from 9:00 tonight, please come and repent you sins. That is all the time I needed, thank you for cooperating.”

 There was more shuffling and the original presenter came back on “Sorry about that folks, looks like we’ll need better security on our building!” they gritted out.

 Everyone looked at each other for a while, trying to comprehend what had just been said. Naomi then suddenly made a stern face and jabbed a finger at the radio.

 “That bastard is behind this!”

 

**I҉̷͝n̷̛͜t̵̸e̵͞r̴̢m̡̡̛͟͜į̷͝͠ş̷s̶͜͠i̕̕͢o̴̸͢n̨̛͘**

 

 The next morning was dry and uncomfortably warm. Envy pulled her arms through her jacket sleeves. The leather was unsuitable for the weather, but she was from the East and those mountains were like a volcanically heated hotplate. She sucked in a breath and turned to her cats.

 Minty and Molly looked at her wide eyed and completely captivated. Minty was a fat, exotic short-hair with orange and white fur striping from his head to his tail. Molly was a silver bobtail with marks like eye-shadow over her green eyes, one blinded when she was a kitten. Minty gently pawed his way to the floor and stretch slowly and deliberately, then springing back into a loose blob on the floor.

 Envy pouted at them and clapped her hands “Come on, yousens. We can’t stay here anymore. Choppity too!”

 Molly licked her shoulder. Envy sighed and slumped. The phone rang and she walked over, exasperated at her pets “Envilous speaking. Oh hi! You’re here, already? I would have thought the traffic was bad. Oh, okay. Yeah I’m still in my flat. Of course I’m bringing my cats! Fuck you, they have more brains than you sometimes you know. Well you’re fucking welcome! Fine then, you come up and meet me. Yeah, see you in a few minutes.”

 Putting the phone down, she walked slowly over to the kitchen counter “Right then, you leave me no choice!” she said dramatically. From behind the counter she pulled a cat crate. Both animals flinched and froze like deer in headlights at the sight of it.

 She scooped up Molly, who was started to make a daring escape attempt, and practically threw her into the crate. Minty was still frozen in horror at Envy because _how dare she_ and she scooped him up and into it as well. Locking the door, she placed the cage on the side and went to lock the balcony door and check all the windows. The last time she had gone home for the holidays, she had returned to find a young woman breaking into her flat through the balcony via the neighbour’s balcony. That girl learned a little eastern hospitality.

 After about five minutes, she got a knock at the door. Albert and Alexis were standing in the entryway.

 Alexis was dressed in worn teal and blue shirt with a white and red jacket over it. His dark red trousers and matching shoe complimented his coal coloured skin excellently. His left arm was still in a cast from when he had broken it.

 Albert was in a red and black stripped shirt and black trousers. He scuffed his grey and white shoes against the floor nervously, whilst looking down towards the stairs.

 “We were followed up.” He explained.

 Envy leaned out the door and looked down the hallway but only heard the gargled rasps of poor lip control.She walked over for the keys and her cats before stepping out with the boys. Her cats hissed loudly at the stairwell as she locked the door.

 Everyone walked to the stairwell but one of Envy’s older neighbours pushed past them with a shotgun and aimed it down the stairwell. He fired. There was a splatter below them and Alexis looked over the stairwell to the mess.

 One of the half rotten corpses was now collapsed on top of another but unlike the one below them, they were no longer moving. The body was dropped unceremoniously over the banister as the body underneath emerged.

 He backed away “How about the lifts?”

 “But… but… no!” Albert protested as they started for the elevators. He trailed behind, pausing as they pressed the button for the lift to come to them “I hate lifts! Come on, guys, I’m not going in there.”

 “Then take the stairs.” Envy smiled at him, walking in.

 He gritted his teeth, crumpling the bottom of his shirt. He looked at the stairs, looked at the lift, looked at the stairs again and then back at them “Oh fuck it!”

 He scrambled in with them, looking grimly about them as the doors shut and the lift started down.

 The annoying music filled the tiny space as they slowly descended. Albert gritted his teeth as he looked at the floors illuminating one by one. He shifted his weight from foot to foot nervously. Minty mewed at his owner from the side of his cage.

 “It’s alright baby, just a little problem is all.”

 “Easy for you to say, you ain’t shit scared of –“ the lights flickered when the elevator shuddered with what sounded like a large explosion rattled the building. Albert made a noise that made the cats sound like lions.

 The lift sauntered to a stop. Albert made another horrendously pathetic noise. He leaned into Alexis and grabbed onto the zingling’s injured arm, the blood draining from his face.

 Envy groaned “It’ll start up again.”

 It didn’t.

 “I might actually die. If we don’t get out of here soon, I might actually die.” Leonard hyperventilated. He had his head pressed against Alexis’ shoulder, the taller greatly amused by this. The cats mewled from their crate.

 “Fuck this shit, I can’t be doing with this like.” Envy howled. She kicked the glass panel below the control panel and kicked it again when it cracked. She pulled the shards away from the panel and reached in for the emergency Allen key. She pulled it out and reached up to click it into place. She turned it three times and when the latch beside it swung open, she pushed the chippering Albert out of the way and pulled the latch there. The escape hatch opened above them and she jumped up, grabbing the ledge.

 Pulling herself up, she reached down for her cats, which Alexis passed to her. Albert groaned as Alexis followed her. He danced from foot to foot in his panic. Alexis reached a hand down to him and he took it in terror. The zingling dragged him up into the shaft where he began to hyperventilate again.

 Envy was already making her way up the ladders with her cats in one hand. There was an escape door above her head and when she reached the top of it, she used her free hand to support herself on the ledge above it so she could swing her leg back and kick the escape hatch.

 The metal door gave easily under her heel and she practically threw herself through the hatch. The boys were close behind her. She was checking on her pets whilst she waited for them.

 “Do you mind by any chance waiting for us Envy?” Albert panted as she closed the cage door.

 “For you to finish your panic attack? Nah, I heard those take a while.”

 She stood and the three of them listened to the sounds of screams and a loud reverberating throughout the building, like a speaker turned up loud without any sound coming out of it. The hallway was deserted.

 Until a person missing an arm and with half their mouth rotted off came running around a corner. They were making a retched noise as they ran towards them. The three musician started backwards before turning towards the other end of the corridor.

 “Envy! There’s a locked door at the end! What the fuck are you doing?!” Albert screamed as Envy ran head long at the door.

 She smashed through the door with her boot in front of her, knocking a poor vagabond out of her way as she did. Albert was screeching after her “Are you bloody mad?!”

 “Are you forgetting she’s a one woman hurricane?” Alexis chuckled breathlessly beside him. He was clutching his broken arm to his stomach. Steam bellowed from his mouth and Albert twitchily jumped over the rails to the next floor. Unlike his boyfriend, he wasn’t fond of fire.

 They reached the bottom floor quickly and found themselves fighting through a crowd of people. There was a several people with guns pushing their way through the crowd and shooting at a small group of people who all looked like they had freshly stepped out of a grave.

 There was a young woman with crystals bound about her wrists whispering softly on the side of the road. In front of her was a woman holding a young boy in place. The child was bleeding from his temple, the magic user was healing him slowly.

 Alexis was already making his way to their car “Come on then.”

 “Where are we going?”

 “To my parent’s place, they live way out in the countryside on a ranch a little south of here. We should be safe out there.” He jumped in and they followed.

 

  **I҉̷͝n̷̛͜t̵̸e̵͞r̴̢m̡̡̛͟͜į̷͝͠ş̷s̶͜͠i̕̕͢o̴̸͢n̨̛͘**

 

 The next morning was glaringly bright and warm. The air was dry and created thirst as the morning drew on. Mycah was watching standing by the door waiting for the people to arrive despite how early it was. He was tired after the imp’s visit but he refused to let that spoil his chance.

 The community centre was a large black block attached to the small primary school. Prescott was a small area made up of mostly houses and small, new families. It was young and peaceful. It was a good place to start.

 Inside the building was airy and with only one main floor, it seemed to be able to house the whole of Capital. The black exterior continued into the interior. There was a raised platform with tables and chairs for people to sit and a dance floor below. The tiny dark wood bar seemed out of place somehow, with its pint glasses hanging from their racks and the smudged chalkboards, which would normally show the prices and deals.

 Diana approached him hesitantly. He intimidated her greatly for some reason she could not name beyond her own insecurities. He turned to look at her slowly “What is it?”

 “Everyone who arrived last night have woken up.” Taylor toddled up behind her and grasped her skirt “We’ve already set them about doing simple jobs, most of them want an explanation to what’s going on. To be honest, I am wondering myself why we’re here.”

 “For this plan to work, we must initiate stages. The first stage is complete. This second stage will take a while because it requires the gathering of as many repenting people as possible. Many of these people cannot be saved truly, but they can helpful in many ways. Those like us among them will be able to take advantage of that usefulness in good time until they have reached the limit of their practicality; we will cast them back into the society that suits them. I wouldn’t worry too much, but I do have a vague idea of what to do next, it will be adjusted once this stage is completed.”

 Diana lowered her head slowly, she gazed down at the dark floor when her son caught her notice. He was staring intently and untrustingly at Mycah again. He had since they had retrieved the book.

 “Mama, his eyes.” He pointed a chubby finger at Mycah as Diana crouched beside him.

 “Yes dear, everyone has eyes, Mycah’s are a lovely grey colour.” She looked up at him, smiling softly at her son’s observations when she noticed something different about his eyes. They were not the grey she had once noticed them to be. They were a strange blue colour now, noticeably bright.

 “Mycah… your eyes have… they’ve changed colour.” She said disbelievingly. Standing straight again, she looked closer to see they were teal coloured, like the glowing insignia on the Tablet.

 He gave her a bemused look before walking past her and said “I’m sure it’s just the lighting.”

 She watched him walk away feeling very dismissed and upset. She would spend the rest of her life feeling like that, she thought miserably, feeling like a child who needs to be told everything slowly. Bowing her head, she walked towards the door she had come in, back towards the school.

 The primary was a beige and brown walls and floors with posters, displays and pictures of every colour imaginable accessible to children whilst painting. She had admired them the night before, wondering whether her own son would eventually have paintings of his own displayed on a school wall.

 She had concluded yes, but it wouldn’t be here, in this school, in this old poisonous world. It would be in the new world, in a new school. Hopefully some place far from here.

 Taylor toddled off in front of her. He was the youngest here by far, even with the twenty or so people who arrived the night before. In all honesty, they are all older people who are unable to tend to themselves during this time and need some extra support, but the young follow the old, at least that’s what she was always taught, and they would eventually guide the younger generation when they arrived.

 If they arrive…

 They will, she assured herself.

 She stepped into the primary classroom and sat beside Charlotte and Tony, who were talking to a fifty-something woman who had arrived the night before. She reminded Diana of her sister and she took an instant dislike to her.

 Jeff looked up from the rifle he was cleaning at her. She sighed, letting her little one run up to Jeff and grab at the first thing he could get his chubby hands on. Jeff growled at him and smacked the table beside the boy’s hand. The child flinched, white faced and horrified, and ran to his mother.

 “Why did you do that?!” his mother hissed.

 “Keep that brat of yours on a leash!”

 “Says the man who’s cleaning a gun in a school.” The woman across from them hummed. She had a stern look about her elegant face. Dark curls licked her long cheeks and her dark eyes had a hint of power. She smoked but used a red cigarette holder instead of just the roll.

 She pointed the holder at the large man “I believe that makes you the one at fault here.”

 Jeff growled in his throat before standing, gathering his things and leaving. The woman went up in Diana’s estimations.

 She reached out a hand for the young mother to shake and she scooted across to the chair closer to her “Ashlin Marskoff. I’m a teacher at this school.”

 “Really? I’m Diana and this is my little boy, Taylor.” She looked down at her clinging baby. He had his head pressed against her lap and was sniffling. She pet his head softly.

 “He’s wonderful. Don’t worry about people like him, dear, they’re not worth arguing with.” She took a breath of her cigarette. “You’re doing a fantastic job with him. Children need to explore and investigate things, and we just need to keep an eye on them is all. He’ll never learn if he doesn’t experience things.”

 “I agree. I probably should be a bit stricter with him though, given the circumstances.”

 “Well, isn’t that why we’re here? For protection? Let him explore. He should be fine.” She leaned back in her chair slightly “Your friends have been informing me that you lot intend to change the world for the better. Because you feel that too many people have been wronged.”

 “Well, that’s the plan, but it will take a few a years to even start up properly.” Charlotte explained, she gestured to the air vaguely “In all honesty, it might not even work, but at least we can make a good start in the right direction.”

 “So, what’s the inspiration? Why do this? Why only now?”   

 “Well, we’ve all been treated unfairly in one way or another. We have decided to set the world right so that is not possible again.” Diana explained.

 “So revenge then.”

 “No, not revenge, justice.”

 “Wrong thing for the right reasons is still the wrong thing.”

 Charlotte rolled her eyes. She pushed the book she had been reading away before marking the page and closing it “You talk like someone who’s never been hurt.”

 “You talk like someone who’s never appreciated what they have.” Ashlin smile never faded from her lips. “I’ve been hurt many a times, so as pretty much everyone on this hunk of rock. We can’t change those experiences, and we can’t compare them to someone else’s because for all we know, the same experience for someone else is worse than it was for everyone else. The point is to remember to move on from those things and focus on what little good we have in our life. What’s the saying? What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

 “Unless it’s a stab wound.” Charlotte chuckled.

 “That is true.”

 Harleen walked into the room. Her stern look was unflinching at the laugher. They all paused to look at her when she swaggered up to the tables “Mycah has called a meeting. He wants everyone present.”

 The room Mycah had chosen for the meeting was a staff room. He had pushed the desks to the sides and had placed the Tablet of Endurre on a raised platform on one desk, open on a marked page and facing away from the group. The room was stiflingly hot despite how all the windows and doors were open as wide as they could go.

 Mycah was sweating but had refused to remove any of the layering from his clothing. His complexion was notably paler in here than in the darkness of the main hall. Diana found herself gasping at the sight of him. Tony hesitated behind her.

 Zarl walked in slowly, as if he had just woken from a terrible sleep. His hair was down and it made his ears look more limp than normal. When he walked in, he said in a strange voice “You’re hands are dirty.”

 Mycah gazed evenly at him. He lifted his hand to look at it and wondered for a second how the zingling had noticed. There was blackish marks that looked somewhere between smudges of dirt and bruising.

 “My pen must have leaked. I was writing notes on our plan and going over it. It seems that this endeavour will not be as easy as I initially thought. I mentioned before that I did not know exactly how these punishments would be carried out but it seems that bringing the dead back to life was way the Tablet saw it appropriate. Either way, apparently the power from the Tablet when it’s activated draws attention of other magical beings who will try to take the book for themselves. This means that we have to keep an eye out for potentially suspicious behaviour. They may try to harm or trick us, so we have to be vigilant.”

 “Like those so called ‘angels’ who accosted us?” Harleen inquired.

 “Yes, though I don’t believe they will be so forwards again.”

 “You think they’ll attack again?” Tony said in a fashion that made him sound like a whining dog.

 “Yes, I don’t believe we’ve seen the last of them.”

 “Hence why we have this.” Jeff patted the armalite rifle he had been cleaning previously. He was leaning it against his leg and the desk he had leant back against. The barrel was pointed vaguely at his head though and Diana had an impulsive thought that it might fire and kill him with the grim satisfaction human’s so often fear. She pushed the thought away; that was no way to think about her companions, even if she didn’t like them.

 Charlotte looked at them all one by one, as if waiting for a suggestion “Well, how about we do checks? We shouldn’t let just anyone in anyway, so we might as well.”

 “Alright, that’s a good idea. Who wants to take the first day, I have a feeling we’ll have a lot of guests over the next few days.”

 Charlotte and Harleen raised their hands at the same time. Mycah nodded “Alright then, everyone else will just have to get everyone settled. If it starts to become too much, we’ll send someone else out.”

 Zarl frowned at Mycah’s hands before looking at his face. He said dryly “You’re eyes have changed colour.”

 “Taylor and I noticed the same thing.” Diana turned to him, her little boy hanging off her hand as she swung round.

 Everyone looked at them before turning back to Mycah. He frowned at them and looked at his reflection in the window. His eyes were always on the paler side so it didn’t surprise him to see the icy look they had to them, but the stark change in saturation was noticeable. They were teal, shockingly so. He grimaced at it.

 “Okay then… What… what could have caused that?”

 Zarl scowled “It might be that book. You said it was magic, right, well who’s to say the reason they locked it in a mountain wasn’t to protect us.”

 “You were listen to those people who attacked us.” Jeff accused.

 “Of course not, I wasn’t even outside! That freak with the healing hand scared the shit out of me! But who’s to say that maybe it does cause problems. Like, maybe it was sealed in a mountain because it was legitimately dangerous!”

 “Zarl.” Mycah reached out at him “It doesn’t matter about my appearance. Teal eyes are a small price to pay for justice.”

 The zingling sucked in an unsatisfied breathe before slumping and looking away from them all. He turned and walked out. Everyone waited until he had left before they looked at Mycah expectantly.

 “Do you think he’s having doubts?”

 “Most likely. It must be hard for someone from Central Killead to have to change their ways like that, they believe that live just is the way it is and that we shouldn’t question it. Well, we say wrong, we are not just allowed to question it, we are allowed to challenge it.”

 The general hum was towards agreement.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

 Hordes of people arrived throughout the day. It was getting to the point that most people were remaining in the main hall, whilst those who arrived early on worked in the school. It had gotten to the point that Diana had joined the other two women outside and Jeff had been set to guard the door.

 It was shocking the amount of people who had arrived, even more shocking how many they had to turn away. Most of them were older people, who were of little use to the cause with their local logic, and teenagers who believed they deserved the right to protection as automatically as everyone else.

 The few dead who had wandered near the building had been mowed down by some of the arrivals or shot by Jeff. Now there were less slightly rotten corpses and more mostly rotten corpses.

 The weather was fine and bright. Diana was struggling with the heat now though and she found greeting and turning away people was becoming increasingly exhausting. The heat wasn’t helping her son either, who was becoming more irritable and bored.

 She dared not let him out of her sight now, with so many people, even though Ashlin had offered to tend to him for her whilst she was busy but she felt it was too familiar and she didn’t really know this woman too well.

 “I haven’t seen him about since. You don’t think he’s left do you?” Charlotte asked Harleen, catlike expression playing on her pouty lips.

 “Who cares? He should have been prepared for any consequences when he joined the cause. I didn’t think he really had it in him from the beginning, he was too much of a weakling.”

 “You mean Zarl? I don’t think he’s weak, it takes a lot to be a hunter.” Diana patted Taylor’s hand away.

 The boy went red cheeked with disgust at the action. He was ridiculously bored, Mummy never played with him anymore and she was always around grumpy people now. He missed his nursery and his friends.

 Charlotte ruffled his hair when he went to her hugged her around the middle. She and Tony were nice to him and Zarl gave him biscuits when Mummy wasn’t looking but Zarl was gone and Tony was too busy to play either.

 “How you doing, squirt?”

 He looked up at her with wide eyes before swaying back and forth on her side “Fine…”

 The adults continued talking about the thing they were doing and Zarl going missing.

  _He’s not gone anywhere._ Taylor thought stubbornly _He’s gone to the café place at the end of the street._

 There was only a pub at the end of the street that was still open despite the strange events occurring but Taylor didn’t understand that.

 He noticed something shiny on Harleen’s sword sheaf and reached for it. He had almost a grasp of it when Harleen turned sharply and slapped him across the cheek. His mother howled at her.

 “What are you doing?! How dare you hit him!”

 “I’m saving that brat of your’s his fingers, he almost grabbed my sword, he could have sliced himself! That little shit is constantly up to his neck in it all the time! I’m sick of it and so is everyone else!”

 “He’s a two year old boy, Harleen, he’s bound to want to touch things.” Charlotte explained but it was too late and Taylor had run off towards the school. Diana made to run after him when Tony came out of the building.

 “There’s something wrong with Mycah.”

 A zombie came running up the street at them and Jeff shot at it. The upper half of its head had been rotted away and it had no eyes to speak of. Jeff reloaded his gun and people scurried towards them. They were becoming increasingly rotten.

 “That fucking book is building power. At this rate, they’ll outnumber the living population.” Gabriel said from behind the car the angels were using as cover.

 “We won’t be able to just walk in and grab it either.” Satan sighed and scowled at a young couple with a set of small twins being turned away “What do they think they’re gaining from this?”

 “Probably whatever that madman has promised them. Justice, salvation, free fucking parking, what does it matter, they’re kids playing with a loaded gun. The kind of gun that ruin lives, towns, Wednesdays.” Gabriel groaned “With that many people now, we can’t just sneak or fly in without being noticed and they probably have everyone on the lookout for us.”

 “Not having much luck are you.”

 They jumped at the new voice. The man behind them was kneeling and had a very calming face. The half-smile playing on his lips made his hooded red eyes look hypnotised.

 “Who the hell-!”

 “Name’s Peop. I’m the one who owns that book.”

 “You’re its guardian. Well that explains how you know about us. What are you doing out here, go in and get it!” Satan snapped.

 The demon shrugged “I have a friend inside already, she’s providing me with information. I can’t just slip in and get it yet, they’re practically guarding the damned thing. Going and just ‘getting it’ would become messy and I would rather like to avoid that.”

 “Bit odd for a demon.”

 “Bit odd for an angel.”

 “Angel of Death. Can you at least give us some info so we can sneak in ourselves?” Gabriel snapped exasperatedly.

 “Looks like your little friend there doesn’t need any info.”

 He scowled at the man before turning and looking at the direction he was pointing. The community hall had two entrances that weren’t connected to the school directly. The walk way and the drive in for cars to park, where the path or road didn’t cover there were hedges lining the grounds.

 Beyond the line of site of the people coming from the main entrance was Sheersha. She was peering through the bushes, leaned back out for one final check and slid rather clumsily through the foliage.

 “You’re protégée I presume?” Peop tilted his head to the side slightly.

 “Yeah.”

 “She’s gonna be a good Arch-Angel. Anyway, I’ll have to love ya and leave ya. I have to ‘sneak’ in.” he grinned slyly before walking out from behind the car and swaggering towards the entrance leaving the angels confused.

 “At least you did something right.” Satan sneered at Gabriel.

 “She does that entirely herself. We should find a comfortable place to wait then, leave her to her own devices.”

 Taylor sniffled beside the bushes. Why did Mummy not stop that mean lady? He hadn’t done no harm. He hiccupped when a rustling sound to his left make him look up. A small white rabbit sniffed at the ground beside him.He stared wide eyes at the little fluffy creature. Its black eyes looked up at him, a brown patch of fur lining its nose.

 He reached a chubby hand down and pet it gently. Its ears flattened as he moved his hand softly over its smooth fur, its nose twitching towards him and he grinned slowly at it.

 “You like rabbits?”

 He looked at up at the girl speaking to him. She was round faced with long brown hair that flowed over her shoulder as she leaned down towards him. He recognised her from the day before but that natural wariness that child almost always have didn’t seem to exist with this strange person.

 “Is this your bunny?”

 “Yeah, but I don’t have time to take care of it.”

 “It’s a cute bunny, I like bunnies.”

 “How about this, I’ll give you my rabbit if you show me where I can find my way in again, I got lost whilst I was bringing this little guy out to the toilet. Could you do that for me?”

 The little boy smiled brightly and wide eyed at her. He stood as she scooped the rabbit up and place it gently into his waiting arms.

 “It’s this way.” He showed her to an open door that functioned as the school’s main entrance.

 He led her into the building and towards one of the classrooms. In there was a group of women and a couple of men. There were a lot of children toddling around, playing with various toys and games set out for them. One woman was sewing up a pair of small trousers.

 “Hello, has anyone seen this boy’s mother? I hope he’s not alone.”

 Taylor looked up at her quizzically “My Mummy is outside.”

 “I think he’s one of the leader’s in-crowd’s kid. I saw him with his mother outside.” One woman said.

 “How about you stay here, where it’s safe?” Sheersha leaned down to Taylor’s level “Would that be alright?”

 “I’ll take him to his mother if you like.” A woman behind them said. She was tall and elegant with dark hair and dark purple eyes. Taylor waved to her “Hello Ashlin.”

 “Hello…” the angel saw Ashlin’s eyes and smiled knowingly, just as Ashlin nodded to her in the same manner.

 “Hello, I believe my companion will be joining us soon, I take it you’re going to assist us?”

 “Of course. I’m a tab bit more subtle than my own companions so there shouldn’t be a problem anymore.”

 “That’ll be good to know.” She kneeled opened armed for the boy “Come here Taylor, let’s go and see your mother. We can show her you’re new rabbit.”

 Sheersha smiled; she had to confront Mycah now.

 

  **I҉̷͝n̷̛͜t̵̸e̵͞r̴̢m̡̡̛͟͜į̷͝͠ş̷s̶͜͠ì̀̕̕͢ò̴̸͢n̨̛͘**

 

 The Phantoms managed to find the area within the day. When they found Prescott, they parked the car and were instantly bombarded with the dead trying to get at them. Zagura had to set a least six of them alight, three of which were actually zinglings and had to be shot down.

 They had then spent the next hour walking the streets, looking for a community center but the only places nearby were a few shops, a church, and a primary school.

 It didn’t help that the lack of people mowing their way through the walking corpses had caused a build-up of them as they moved around. Several of them seemed to ignore them, staggering around aimlessly and looking at those who were wandering beside them. It was impossible to tell if they were actually seeing or hear their neighbours because many of them didn’t have eyes anymore.

 “I am going to skin that bastard alive for this.” Naomi grumbled. Her magic was glowing delicately around her body, especially her hands, in soft flickers and wisps, like stream. She scowled at the devastation she had left in front of her.

 The bodies of the dead had been practically torn in half by her spell and were now littered the road. Jacob shot another behind her. Her uncle walked up behind her and went to place a hand on her shoulder.

 “Do you want to be loksed?”

 He pulled his hand away sharply. He looked sheepishly at the others, who gave no help as fucking usual. Across the road was a restaurant of some form with people in it, armed with various weaponry, watching them through the window. He noticed one boy staring at them had a bad gash in his forehead.

 He walked to the door as what he assured was the owner opened it and let them in “Hurry, there’s no telling how many more of those things might appear in a second.”

 They walked in and Knox instead went to the boy to tend to his injuries. Everyone else went to settle down and discuss things amongst themselves quietly.

 “Do any of you lot fancy anything, everything’s on the house considering the end of days has come and all?” the owner said, he was a fat man with a black eye.

 “Just water or juice all round I think.”

 “Sure you don’t want anything heavier, I have alcohol.”

 “Nah thanks.”

 “Alright, suit yourselves.”

 The teens all gathered around one of the larger tables by the window to gather their thoughts.

 “Okay, so we haven’t found this community center place, but I can feel that energy nearby, like a pulsating.” Naomi explained.

 “We can tell, you’re really pissy.” Jacob snorted.

 “Sorry.”

 Outside the window, a zingling was walking briskly past them when he noticed the people in the building. He walked to the door and barged through it, heedless of the owner’s gun being aimed at him.

 “Is it alright if I take shelter in here for a while?” he asked, his ears pressed back against his head. The owner lowered his gun and nodded.

 The zingling took a seat not far from the Phantoms and when the owner offered him a drink, he asked for a coffee.

 “Anyway, if it is a demon, what do you think would be the best course of action?” Rachel asked.

 “Melt the fucker’s head.” Zagura suggested casually, causing everyone to turn to her with unexpected confusion on their faces. They stared for a while as the realisation of what she had said set in. She looked away.

 “That is a nice idea but I don’t think it works like that.” Leonard chuckled.

 “No, and I will need a spell of some magnitude to deal with a demon, never mind this awful power. It’s giving me a headache.”

 They heard the drag of a chair from a nearby table and looked at the zingling who had come in. He was standing in front of the table, looking intently at them as if they were the key to something important on his life.

 “You can feel an awful power you said?” he demanded.

 Naomi scowled at him. Knox stood slowly to his side, they were about the same height. The zingling gritted his teeth at him, his lips sliding over his double canines.

 “What’s it to you, mate?” Jacob snapped at him.

 “Is it evil, this power you sense?” the zingling kept his gaze on Knox who stood unflinching at him.

 “Of course it is, anything that brings the dead back to life is evil. Leave the dead where they are for fucks sake. Unless you know any useful information about it to help us stop it could you kindly piss off.” Naomi snapped.

 Nathaniel gently touched her hand and she looked down at it. The faded silver colour forming on her skin was very bright against her light tan. Nathaniel looked very intently at her and turned to the zingling expectantly.

 Loks was a serious thing, Naomi mentally reminded herself.

 The zingling was looking at them but his stare was distant and horrified as if they had provided him with some knowledge he had been hoping not to hear. He lowered his head solemnly for a few seconds then looked intensely at them.

 “I know where it is. You have to stop it, please? The man at the heart of this is in danger, he has good intentions but I believe he’s being corrupted by evil magic. Please, you have to help me?” He pleaded.

 They all looked at each other when Zagura asked “Where?”

 

**I҉̷͝n̷̛͜t̵̸e̵͞r̴̢m̡̡̛͟͜į̷͝͠ş̷s̶͜͠ì̀̕̕͢ò̴̸͢n̨̛͘**

 

 “Excuse me? I’m looking for my brother, did he come in, he looks like me only with darker hair?” Peop asked one of the people at the door. They shrugged their shoulders at him and nodded towards the door.

 “They closed it because they don’t want just anyone in apparently. Maybe he’s inside, but I ain’t seen him.” They turned back to their friends. A zingling woman with her baby in arms and two children holding her bag and tail respectively nudged past him.

 “Everyone, the back of the school is open, they are letting people with injuries and children in so they can be tended to and fed!” she announced and ushered her children around the back of the building. People started to follow, mainly parents and youngsters.

 “Maybe someone back there will have seen your brother.” The person Peop had just been speaking to suggested before they walked away from the building towards a car that had pulled up. There was gun fire up the street and several of the people ran towards the school.

 Peop followed them and managed to push through the crowds to ask about his ‘brother’. Several of them suggested that he speak to the people who had been tending the door and when he asked where they were, they suggest the community hall.

 It didn’t provide much information, but enough to bump into Ashlin.

 “Hello my dear, how are you?” he pecked her ear and she chuckled at him softly.

 “Maybe we should discuss that somewhere more private.” She led him around the corner to a woman’s staff toilet. She leaned against the sinks and crossed her arms over her chest. Her reflection was clear in the mirror, but the disguise she worn did not reach it. Her dark curling horns were thin enough to leave gaps between their rotations. They looked like a ram’s oversize headset.

 “So, how is this Mycah dealing with his precious ‘tablet’?”

 “Affected by loks, not that that’s a surprise. He is a male human after all. But that’s not what worrying me. The book is becoming increasingly powerful, at this rate it won’t even obey you. I believe that the loks is having a heavy impact on Mycah. He’s starting to show the later stages of it progressing through his body. I doubt he’ll survive much longer, the book will take control him sooner or later.”

 “It’s probably already started.” Someone walked in and gave him a glare before continuing into the cubical.

 He stepped forwards and gently touched Ashlin’s cheek “Thank you for that information. I’d advice on getting out of here whilst you can. Humans do tend to panic when things start to get messy.”

 Peop chuckled and walked away, leaving the succubus to her own devices.

 He stepped out into the corridor and followed the voice of the tome until he came to a crowded room. Everyone was standing and, if the tense atmosphere hadn’t been there, it might have been mistaken for a party.

 Everyone was talking to each other nervously and there was not enough room for groups to form amongst them. He walked to the center of the crowd to get a better view of what everyone was waiting for.

 He was going to continue to a group of chairs beside a platform to get a better view when a group of people walked uniformly onto the stage area. The chairs and tables had been shoved to the back so they could stand on the stage comfortably.

 Leading them was a slouching man wearing a purple cloak with red and gold trim, hood up. He took center stage and the people following him gathered round behind him. He didn’t focus on the man himself but on the book in his possession. The boiled leather cover was embossed around the edges to give the center piece a boarder. The symbol was one Peop knew well. A circle atop of an upside down triangle with a dot at each end of them and an arch each side. It might have been mistaken as a badly painted symbol of Cancer, but he knew otherwise. To his own people, it was the Akan symbol. The symbol of death.

 “Do I know you?” a voice shouted over the noise at him. He turned and unexpectedly had to look down at the girl speaking to him.

 “I’m the one who was talking to your friends outside. Name’s Peop.” He shook her extended hand.

 “Sheersha, you here to do your job?”

 “Pretty much.”

 “Better late than never I suppose. What’s the plan?” she gave him a look like she knew what to expect of him and he suddenly saw that her pupils were glittering with dots like stars.

 “You should know that, wait for our little squealer to come back with backup and fuck shit up.” He grinned lopsided at Mycah on the stage. The man did not look at all well under his hood. His teal eyes were glowing now and his paling skin had a grey tint to it. There was dark lines and shadows under his eyes and around his mouth. His cheeks looked sunken and his breathing was clearly laboured.

 How long before his control slipped completely?

 “People of Killead! I have come to you with salvation, I know the source of these calamities that have been presented to you! Behold!” he raised the book in both hands above his head, the sleeves of his robe doing a dramatic flick as he raised it “Behold the source of the dead rising again for revenge! They have come to take the lives of those who have wronged us and prevented us from becoming our full potential! Making our lives not only difficult but feel as though they are not worth living! We shall praise its glorious gift of protection and revenge!”

 “Bullshit!” a woman screamed from the crowd.

 “Yeah, what the fuck are you saying?!” a bearded man to their right shouted “That you caused all this shit! My old man is in hospital because of those fuckers outside!”

 Protests erupted from the crowds as people became increasingly horrified by the prospect that they had come to the source of the problem for help when the cause was clearly not remorseful of what they had done.

 Mycah and his group tried desperately to calm the crowd.

 “I understand your confusion at the situation!” he tried to explain “But there is no real cause for concern, people who are innocent of-“

 “Stick your innocent bullshit! My cousin was killed by those bastards and they weren’t more than months old. Their mama is gonna have to live with that for the rest of her life!” shouted someone behind them.

 “Yeah, what the fuck do you think you’re playing at?!” came a high pitched voice.

 Sheersha looked around at the angry people shouting and screaming at the group. They looked horrified at the group as the tensions of the room began to mount up. It all came to a head as the main man suddenly threw up in front of everyone.

 The black flood of vomit, which resembled ink mixed with corn starch, splattered down the front of the man’s robes and onto the stage below. People at the front backed off, including his own entourage. It poured down the stage side and onto the dark floors below. Someone nearby heaved.

 Mycah stood up straight, suddenly the whites of his eyes were a pale cyan colour. The skin around his mouth and nose was completely colourless and grey. He looked unnatural and unhealthy.

 A silence fell across the room as they looked at him. Some people at the back were shuffling and made their way towards the door. Everyone became very claustrophobic and the heat of room rose as people began to slowly panic. Everyone started towards the doorway they had come in. They pushed and shoved to get out the doorway but it have been locked and it seemed that there was no way out.

 Someone screamed “Stop shoving!” but the panic continued. The crowd were now loud and terrified and there might as well have been a riot going on for how everyone was reacting. Someone was shoved to the ground by someone behind them. They pushed themselves up, their nose bloody.

 Sheersha went over to them and helped them up, people running around them. She pulled them under her arm and guided them through the panicked people towards the bar, where someone spotted her and pulled them up over the counter to safety. She turned and Peop was behind her.

 “Well this shit was unexpected. Humans are defiantly entertaining if nothing else.” The demon laughed.

 “I fail to see how other people suffering is ‘entertaining’ but then again, you’re a demon, what should I really expect?” she waved her hand dismissively at him. She looked at Mycah who was watching the people fascinated.

 The man didn’t seem to have noticed the black ooze that had expelled itself from his mouth or how his hands had miscoloured. Peop gave Sheersha one last slanted grin as walked towards the stage.

 The group surrounding Mycah had dispelled. The woman with the child had fled, as had the heavy man. The tiny woman was now waddling towards the door as fast as her legs could move. Peop chuckled at the remaining three.

 “Not what you expected?” he shouted over the noise. They looked at him with despairing faces. “Well, you will go and play with something not for humans to meddle with. It’s a demon book, not a human book.” He spread his arms wide in a grand gesture “Now hand it back to those it really belongs to.”

 He reached out his pale hand but Harleen stepped in front of his, drawing her sword and looking rather displeased at his cheek. His smile dropped instantly. He straightened, red eyes staring fixedly at her.

 “Well, you’ve been warned on both sides. Don’t blame me when your blood is spilt.”

 “Is that a threat?”

 “No, it’s just a warning.” He stepped back and reached his hands out in a grabbing motion. The tome in Mycah’s hand flew straight into them as if it had been thrown. Peop flicked open the page, which continued to open on their own. The pages were black and blank. He stopped it at the right page and held it forwards “Now return.”

 They looked at Mycah, whose head was cocked to the side. The strange expression remained as he slowly but firmly said, in a voice that didn’t quite sound like himself “No.”

\--

 Outside, Zarl walked the group up to the hall. He tested the doors and grunted when he discovered it was locked. He turned to the others, who looked at him expectantly.

 “There’s a back entrance.” He gestured to the school. They followed him until someone came running past them, screaming with a small baby in his arms. He was followed by several other people, one nearly running into them with fright.

 “Run!” someone screamed “He’s a monster!”

 Someone, a tall sleek woman with thick dark hair and elegant look about her was waving people out the building and towards the exit out on the streets. Zarl waved to her as she pointed another person to the exit.

 “What are you doing? Surely it’s safer in there than it is out here.”

 “Not with that madman in there. There’s evil magic in there.” She warned “You’d best to avoid it and return home.”

 “Not until I help stop that magic. I have people here who can help.” He gestured to the Phantoms, who were looking horrified at the people who ran past. Zagura was preoccupied with the people behind them.

 “What do you mean?” she looked generally confused.

 Naomi stepped forwards “I know how to banish that book.” Her entire forearms were silver in colour now. It was steadily spreading up her arm now that she was closer to the source of the curse that was inflicting the loks.

 The woman hummed thoughtfully “You’re one of his inner circle, aren’t you?”

 “Not anymore.” Zarl hissed firmly, his lips curled back over his fangs. She didn’t flinch at this.

 After a time, she simply nodded and continued guiding people towards freedom. They walked past her and towards the school. People were shoving and pushing to get out, some were attempting to get out of the windows. They were all terrified and it made the existing chaos worse.

 They were forced to push and shove through the crowds as they made their way to the main hall. Everyone gasped at the horrible view before them.

 Mycah was confronting a man with thick white hair. He was standing in a puddle of black sludge which looked like it was actively congealing.The man looked darkly calm and unimpressed. He was holding the Tablet open when they came in but snapped it closed instantly. Harleen was looking at the man in shock, then back at Mycah, then back at the man.

 “So, that’s how it is?” the man said plainly before the book dissolved into teal mist in his hand. Harleen swung her sword down at him but he blocked it with a weapon that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. It was a sword that was strapped to his arm by his wrist and elbow.

 She pushed him back and stabbed at his side but he swung his arm down to block her. She pushed forwards and he took a step back. A short teenage girl was screaming at the people to draw them away from door. She turned and looked a cross between horrified and enraged at them.

 “Kill him, you idiot! He’s gone, dead men don’t talk!” she screamed at them. Naomi instantly felt a tingling travel up her arms where the loks was. She nearly scratched them but before she could, the girl noticed them and ran straight up to her.

 “Cast a sigilla spell on that man!” she jabbed a finger at the cloaked man petulantly “I don’t care what spell you use, but you have to stop him getting out of here!”

 Naomi sucked in her breath because the girl was fucking made of magic with how much it was affecting her, but when the girl touched her arm and turned her towards the school, she felt her headache ease slightly and her annoyance suddenly dissipated to a clear realisation that, yes, a sigilla spell is exactly what they need to stop that thing!

 She ran, with her group close behind her, to the school to get supplies.

 Sheersha turned and snarled at Mycah who was standing and watching Harleen and Peop battle. He was standing perfectly still, hands neatly placed over his legs with Jeff beside him looked confused at his leader, who was ignoring his shoulder which was being tugged at.

 Jeff scowled at her as she stomped up to him and motioned for him to come away.

 “Away fuck you bitch!” he spat at her.

 “He’s gone, it’s too late. You might as well give up and leave. Mycah is under the influence of the loks from that book. You’d do well to avoid him if you don’t want to be consumed by it.” He raised a hand to grab the gun loaded to his back but he was nearly knocked onto his side when Harleen was thrown back into him, just missing Mycah.

 Peop was standing hunched over on the lower platform; there were people scrambling to get out of his way because the blood dripping from his arm was dark and when he gritted his fangs someone scrambled back from beside him “I’ve had just about enough of this! Fuck casualties! I’m going to kill you!”

 He drew his arms out wide and another black blade appeared on his other arm. He hissed at them animalistic and he pounced on them.

 Harleen was still picking herself up when Jeff was thrown into the wall beside her, taking a chair with him and catching his cheek on the metal. He screamed out and Harleen was only able to move out of the way in time.

 Mycah had somehow artfully dashed away but Peop was close behind him with the blades and he was slashing at him wildly, snarling at him like an injured cat. Mycah moved fluidly. He dodged a slice for his neck and then his head. He kicked away Peop’s arm as he made to knock him over.

 People continued running towards the doorways. Someone was knocked to floor and crushed under the stampede of feet. The hallway from the community building into the school was dark, square and had a stairwell to the maintenance room. Three people broke from the crowds up to the first landing on the stairwell.

 One grabbed stuff out his pockets and threw it into this corner. He ripped off his own sleeve and chucked it into the tiny pile he had made. Someone ran up behind him and asked “What the fuck are you doing?”

 “Burning this place to the ground! It’s evil! It needs to burn!”

 He took out a lighter and set the cloth and paper rubbish alight. It spat and caught the cloth long enough to trail blackened lines along its edge until it caught the paper. It might have burnt out but the man behind him took out a hipflask and splattered its contents over the wall and fire. The blaze spluttered up higher after a second.

 They ran back down the stairs as the fire caught the wall and up to the window. They pushed hurriedly through the crowds of running people until they reached the exit.

 They bypassed the kitchen with Naomi and the Phantoms inside, who were running frantically around the rooms grabbing supplies they needed. They had found a pot in one of the cupboard and were boiling water in it.

 They had added corn starch, two eggs and some melted wax to the mixture to make it a paste. She stirred it quickly and started pouring the gel like substance onto the cutting board beside it and watched it whiten and harden.

 She quickly rolled it up and patted the ends until they were flat. She rubbed her hands against the stem of it until it was hard and flaky like chalk. She looked up at the others, who were standing expectantly for her instructions.

 “How many doors did that room have?”

 “Two, the main entrance, which is locked and the one we got to the school through. What do we have to do, there are still some people at the door?”

 “Okay, we need to draw this around the edge of the doorways to seal them. Basically, the spell I’m gonna use is very strong, but simple. They cause the doorways to be marked and closed like a wall, but the only problem is if anyone smudges or breaks the chalk seal, it breaks. It’s kind of fragile but it’s the best we can do right now.”

 “So, basically, we have to get as many people out of the building as we can.” Zagura nodded “I’ll unlock that main door then.”

 She lifted her hand and the heat radiated off it and waves of it hit their bare skin. The light slowly appearing from her hand glowed against Naomi’s skin and Zagura noticed the silver had faded from the bridge of her nose slightly.

 “Alright, that’s the plan. Let’s get to it everyone.” They ran back out of the room into the hallway, which was now almost completely clear of people, say for a few stragglers who were apparently looking for people they had been with.

 They made a beeline for the hallway but were nearly sent back out when Peop was thrown into the wall next to door. Leonard stumbled backwards into Jacob, who nearly fell as well. The white haired man stood and snarled darkly. His red iris had widened until it had spread across most of his eye and he had thick fangs instead of teeth.

 Mycah looked no better, his skin was dark and colourless, his eyes had become almost completely white and his hair had also turned white in colour. Jeff stepped in beside him and aimed his gun at the Peop. He fired but the demon dodged.

 He dodged several shots and blocked Harleen when she launched herself at him. He knocked her back but she expected it and slipped her sword down and it caught the skin of his thigh and knee. He snarled and slashed at her face.

 She jumped away but her cheek was cut. Jeff shot at the demon again but this time it caught against his shoulder and dark blood splattered backwards onto the wall. He snarled ran at the man, swinging wildly at him with his blades.

 Mycah stood and watched him, but the group caught his attention.They were scrambling to gather people and get them out of the room. He watched them for a little while before walking towards them.

 Naomi was hastily scratching the chalk along the edge of the doorway, she couldn’t reach the top so Nathaniel had to take it from her and draw the rest. They had completed one doorway when Knox went to walk back into the room, where he had been checking the body of a trampled person.

 He walked into something invisible, like a wall. Naomi looked sternly at him when he snapped “Dammit, Naomi! Let me through!”

 “I’m sorry uncle, but you don’t know how to deal with this kind of thing like we do. I can’t risk your safety.”

 “Naomi! Dammit! Stop!” he screamed and pounded on the invisible wall but it made no use. She turned on her heels and walked very purposely to the other door. Zagura and Rachel were already at the doorway.

 The blonde teen was fanatically shoving people away from the door. She helped one frail man drag the body of what appeared to be his daughter away. A toddler was screaming at his hip when they got her free.

 Zagura’s hands were already smoking and she was finding it difficult to keep them away from everyone. Her tail flicked sharply at someone to her left who backed away from her once he caught the smell of her burning hands.

 The plastic doors would take a lot to melt but she could get to the metal handles and locking mechanisms. The zingling took hold of the handles and let the heat of her hands melt into the silver metal. The smell of melting metal and plastic filled everyone’s nose.

 As she did, Nathaniel reached up with the chalk and quickly sketched across the top of the door. He ran the white stick along the sides and left the floor blank. If they sealed it now it might become disastrous.

 The smell of smoke filled the building. Normally this wouldn’t bother Knox but the flicker of light to his side caught his attention.

 “Fire. Fire! Evactuate! There’s a fire!” he raised his arms and ushered as many people back through the door. A woman came running in and scooped up the trampled body into her thick arms and ran off. Someone was standing in the doorway looking at the fire as if mesmerised, clutching the cross at their neck. Knox shoved them through the doorway and found someone attacking a zingling, blaming them for the flames.

 “Oi! Stop this shite right now! Where’s the extinguisher?”

 “This bastard caused it!”

 “You don’t know that!”

 “He’s a fucking zingling!”

 “Say that to my face you cunt!” the zingling snarled at him and he must have been from Central Killead because that accent was thick.

 “Hey, hey! How about we put it out before we start stuffing apples in our mouths, yeah?!” a woman ran up and dragged the human male’s arm with her to the extinguisher, which was sealed by a jump lever, but something had been jammed into it; it looked suspiciously like a scissor blade.

 Knox ran up and helped him pull at the jammed lever.They pushed down on the metal bar but it only succeeded in bending the blade. The woman was pushing down as well but it stopped altogether this time.

 The zingling jumped between, grabbed the shelving above the lever and said “Surprised you city slickers make it to adulthood.”

 He hopped up and threw his whole body weight onto the lever. The scissor blade snapped and was thrown free. The lever snapped down and they wretched the door open, pulled out the red tank and dragged it out into the hallway.

 They were about to start the spray when a crash came through the wall, alongside a lot of rubble. A body was thrown through the wall, into the blaze. They gasped in horror as the man stood up and, basically, dusted the flames off. His burned skin was bright red but he did not seem bothered by the marks to his skin.

 He growled and leapt back through the hole.

 “The door’s open!” Zagura shouted. The people who had been blocking the door raced through it. They watched them go. The girl who had told them to seal the door walked up behind them.

 “You should leave, it’s safer that way.” She smiled sadly at them. She seemed too calm.

 “Why?” Rachel demanded.

 “I’m not entirely sure that we can stop this is why. I can’t see an outcome to this and I think it’s because there might not be one.” Came the confusing answer.

 A scream from outside drew their attention. Two men ran towards the doorway, an army man and an idiot in a heavy black cloak.

 “We have a problem out here!” the army man shouted. He jabbed a finger at the parade of running people, mingling with the very clearly dead people, who were missing arms and heads and most of their clothes, not that it bothered them.

 “Yes, I’ve noticed Gabriel. Can you keep that lot dancing while I deal with the Devil’s stepson here?” she motioned behind her, at the fight going on.

 “Well, so much for going in peacefully.” The other man complained.

 “Nevermind, come on, we have work to do.” Gabriel tapped him on the shoulder, turned and reached out his hand as he walked away. From it, a gun appeared as if he was pouring water into it. The other man followed and did something similar, but a battle scythe appeared in place of a gun.

 They were left shocked at the exchange until the girl turned to them “Go on, hurry. They’ll need help.”

 From her own hand came a long spear, black and smooth with no indication of joints and a red glass eye in the center of its head. She smiled at them, taking the chalk from Nathaniel. He signed a thank you at her and everyone moved through the door.

 She drew the last line of chalk “I would get as far away as you can. This seal won’t work completely against them.”

 “I’ll have you know that’s an upper level spell!” Naomi snapped. The loks had made one of her eyes a strange honey colour.

 “It’s nothing against this, I assure you.” Sheersha turned and walked towards Mycah. The Phantoms turned to face their own battle.

 Mycah threw Peop at the wall beside her. He didn’t go through the wall this time, but there must have been a bulge on the other side of the wall because people who were still curiously looking in scattered.

 Mycah turned to her. He looked less human now, the skin on his cheek were drawn inwards and his nose resembled an pig’s snout more than a human’s. He cocked his head twitchily as she approached him.

 “I guess this is why demons can mutate their appearance to gain power, facing off against something like you. Well, I don’t have to change much to upgrade at least.” Her wings unfolded from her back and spread wide across the room. They were not as long as Gabriel and Satan’s but the pale coffee colour to them made them seem less like a fucking seagull or crow.

 She charged at him, her spear in front of her and she could feel Her presence through the energy she gathered at the tip. He tried to grab it but the rippling light coming from the red gem went through his chest before he could even fold his talons around it.

 The blast that followed made the monster collapse onto the ground and contort. Sheersha yanked the blade free but the spear head broke free and a new one grew back. Mycah’s contortion continued and he made a screeching noise like the caw of a crow mixed with the scraping of metal irons.

 “Her Lady has spoken. You are guilty of the most human weakness: hurting. But that should not have made you a killer, but you walked down a path because you suffered from something else very human: arrogance. You became a murderer because you wanted power and you felt you should have it, that you deserved it because life did not pounder to your wants and desires. Here’s a quick but very important lesson in life, possibly the most important: life does not give a shit what you want. It won’t sugar coat anything for you, so you should not expect it to.” Sheersha glared darkly at him through her brief sermon.

 The monster screamed at her in agony. Peop walked up beside her. There were two small black horns peeking through his white hair. They exchanged a silent look before watching Mycah have several short seizure.

 A black mist rose out his chest with spits of dust like he had ruptured an artery. The tome returned to Peop’s hand and he opened it slowly. The mist didn’t move and he watched it with a sudden, unexpected dismay.

 Sheersha saw what was happening immediately and stepped back. The mist gathered and took the body apart as it did. It bellowed and roared like a swarm of bees. It gained a head, four limps, and a tail, and big black wings, and horns that curled over from its head and spiralled back over on themselves until they looked more a pair of battering rams than horns. It moaned angrily and hissed in a breath like it was pained. The silence that followed was tense and Sheersha found herself nearly running to the other side of the room to get away from it.

 The next noise it made was like a demonic trumpet and Sheersha covered her ears to keep the hideous noise from them. There was only one thing that made that sound: death. And death was calling.

\--

 Outside had become a Mardi Gras of rotten corpse. Gabriel was shooting several of the dead off while Satan swung his battle scythe in a series of spins and dances. Blood was splattered around them as if they were painting some elaborate display of _look how much better we are at fighting than you!_

 Nathaniel would have liked to stand and watch their fighting techniques because battle and fighting styles were things that managed to twitch his interests but he was otherwise occupied with his somewhat desperate attempts to protect a small family with an injured adult and an unconscious one. The child with them was staring at him and his little brown ears twitched.

 Jacob was kneeling on the concrete to steady his semi-automatic.The long weapon was a little heavy for him even now, but his aim was good and he was quick enough on the trigger to get a moving target often enough. These most of the dead were now pondering around at a slow, sleepy pace but it would only take one to run for a stampede to erupt and make a quick meat carpet out of them.

 He picked off one corpse after another, making them drop as they walked. Leonard stood beside him. He was a considerably better at targeting but had less patience to aim than Jacob. He generally stuck to the point and shoot routine, if one could call it that, as he took out head after head. Rachel was helping guide people away from the oncoming army of horrors.

 Zagura had been intending to go and start setting some of them on fire but the horrified look Jacob gave her when she suggested made her realise that maybe it wasn’t a good idea. She had then quickly changed her role to tending to Naomi who had inconveniently fainted on everyone as the loks suddenly started to make fast progress on her body again.

 Knox ran out to them, noticed them sat in the doorway of a house with a built in porch. He ran over and scooped up his niece in his arms and held her to him. His voice sounded horse “What the fuck just happened?”

 “We were kind of kicked out by the teenager, but she seemed to be with these two.” She pointed at the two men “And before you ask, I have no idea who they are.”

 “Shit! Her loks is really bad! Zagura, you have to help me get her back to the van. We can’t have her near that book any fucking longer.”

 They stood and he carried Naomi gently with him. They started running with the crowds until they got to the end of the street, circling round, hoping for a mostly clear street so they could run back to the car.

 The rest of the Phantoms were slowly milling their way through the hoards when a large blast, like a trumpet played. The two men who had joined them froze instantly, even as one particularly rotten faced zombie bite into one of their shoulders.

\--

 Peop was thrown back into the wall behind him as the creature swung from side to side, trying to get a grasp of its bearings.

 Jeff stood horrified at the monster that had suddenly appeared before him, taking the man he was loyally following and destroying him. He gritted his teeth and aimed his gun at it, firing round after round into it.

 It didn’t seem to notice.

 It didn’t so much eat him as consume him with its pulsing black body. He screamed, dropping his rifle to the floor and throwing his arms up into the air to protect himself. The swarming sound returned; the loud creaking of the creature nearly muting it.

 Sheersha watched in horror at it.

 She caught sight of Harleen, who was trying to stand with an injured leg. She looked shell shocked more than anything else. At the door someone shouted.

 Zarl was standing at the open door, slamming the seal with his heated hands. His fangs were showing with desperation. Diana and Tony were standing behind him, little Taylor in her arms. She was crying and trying to hold his head against her neck, so he couldn’t see. Tony was holding her arm, look torn between the scenes in front and behind him.

 Charlotte was shouting at her “Don’t throw your life away Harleen! Mycah’s gone! He’s dead! And look at the monster he turned into! Run!”

 It took a lumbering step towards her.

 “Run you dumb bitch! Don’t throw your fucking life away!” Zarl shouted viciously “That’s evil magic! It’ll kill you!”

 Harleen watched it open its mouth and blood drip out in thick strings.

 “Come on, why aren’t you moving?” Charlotte muttered. She stepped backwards until she was level with Diana and Tony.

 “Don’t throw away your life, Harleen!” Sheersha called.

 That shifted something in her. Harleen fixed her a look that was both stubborn and defiant. Sheersha looked away as she leapt into the misty mass. The swarming noise returned again and faded out.

 She watched as the creature turned to the door and started towards it. Zarl stepped back, nearly stumbling over a dead body to get away. The remaining group were now running away with Gabriel and Satan watching in horror at the monster.

 The seal was pulled into the mist like a piece of cling film. It was taking all the magic it could, chalk marks and all, into its body for energy. Sheersha could feel her own body growing weak from its pull.

 A light exploded from the doorway. The white spark, like a match being struck, exploded in front of them. It appeared without a source but the intense glowing beam grew with strength. A white figure appeared from the light and with it came a haunting song.

 The song was wordless, tuneless almost but it left a warm feeling in their hearts like the hug of a mother comforting their child. It was gentle and soothing. The light spread and seeped through every single space in the room like water into a bowl.

 When the light faded, the creature was gone and the now open tome lying at Peop’s hip had scripture again. Everyone looked stared at the light, which should have blinded them by all rights, as it faded completely from sight.

 Sheersha watched as Peop’s form shifted back to normal though he remained unconscious. She looked over his body when Gabriel walked up to her shoulder.

 “It’s done then?” he asked.

 “Yeah, and history had to repeat itself. We couldn’t prevent it this time either. Why are angels sent to prevent things like this when we are so incapable of doing anything about it?” she sounded bitter.

 “In my experience” they turned to see a creamy coloured wolf with startling blue eyes and nose “we often miss the home we came from. Mother has allowed this to happen because she misses the call of home.”

 Sheersha softened her glaze “Even though it blinds and hurts her?”

 “Yes.” Orlaith wagged her tail and pressed her muzzle against the girl’s waist. She kneeled down and embraced the baby Wolfmajesti around the neck. She took comfort in the feeling it provided her.

\--

 The remaining Phantoms watched the exchange outside the building. The dead had stopped in their tracks, seemingly paralysed. Mycah’s followers were now standing among them. They looked at each other, at awe of what had happened.

 A teal light exploded from standing corpses. It poured upwards in wisps of smoke, flowing into the air. The bodies dropped and added their numbers to the bodies littering the floor. As the smoke passed into the sky, the clouds which had come earlier darkened.

 They grew heavy and a teal coloured rain spat and spat and spat and pattered down in a light summer wave. The people who had made it outside stopped what they were doing and looked to the sky. The teal water caressed their skin in little rivets.

 A couple of children out of their parents grip and danced around in the strange downfall.

 Taylor spotted them and giggled “Mummy! Mummy! Let me play!”

 Diana looked at him as if had just grown a second head when Charlotte looked up at her and smiled.

 “Go on, Diana. He ain’t gonna be a child forever.” She still hesitated but when she saw the gleeful hope on her sons face, she leaned down and set him on the floor.

 “Go on, love. Just don’t go far.” He grinned broadly at her and ran towards the forming puddles. He jumped straight into the water and squealed with joy.

 Sheersha stepped outside with Gabriel. Satan was waiting for them. He nodded at them as they watched the water. They smiled, bittersweet, at the changed weather. The Angel of Death sucked in a breath and said “I have to leave now.”

 “Fine.” Gabriel grunted.

 “See you around.” Sheersha waved and as he teleported away.

 The younger turned to the other and clasped her hands behind her back “I think this isn’t going to be something people forget about any time soon. The world is going to change massively soon, but it will go unnoticed compared to this. Strange when you think about it.”

 “Human’s rarely notice things they feel don’t affect them.” Gabriel sighed.

 “It’s probably for the best. Life is stressful enough.”

 They watched Zarl walk over to his companions. Sheersha smiled at the older before moving her hands from behind her back and wandering over.

 “So, what are we going to do now?” Zarl asked the remaining three.

 Charlotte shrugged “Probably go back to my family and apologise for being away without calling them. They will then insist on helping me with crap I don’t need help with. It’s probably better than not getting any help though I guess.”

 Tony smiled down at her and said cheerfully “Well, we can do what we want now I guess? I doubt we’ll be blamed for what Mycah did, so we can probably get on with our lives.”

 “That’s true.” Diana agreed. She caught sight of Ashlin who waved for her “Are you alright?!”

 “Yes, of course. Looks like Taylor is having a good time.” She looked pointedly at the boy splashing the green tinted puddles.

 “Well…” Diana looked at Charlotte “He’s not going to be a child forever.”

 “Brilliant! Hey, I was wondering, have you go a place to stay? I have a spare room I was looking to rent out, it’s big enough for you and Taylor; you can work at the nursery up the road from here if you like. I wouldn’t mind.”

 The younger’s eyes lit up “Really? You wouldn’t mind? That would be fantastic! Thank you so much!”

 Zarl chuckled “Looks like we’re all getting a home one way or another. Tony, my parents live in Morepinpaul, why don’t you come with me and we can share a flat until we get back on our feet? How about it?”

 “Sure, sounds like a plan.”

 “Sounds like you’re all starting to get your lives together again.”

 They looked at Sheersha as she walked up to them, Gabriel not far behind “Have you learned you’re lesson now? We don’t fix our problems through revenge, we do it by taking ahold of our lives and changing them ourselves. There is always a choice.

 “Diana, you said before that you think I had didn’t understand your pain. You were wrong. I do understand. To become an Arch-Angel, you must suffer the pain of humanity first. You must suffer it so greatly that you take your own life to end it. Our lives are cruel and hard, we have known little kindness and that little bit is always stolen from us. That hasn’t stopped us from caring though. When you have suffered real pain, you don’t want another to feel it, not truly. Revenge is only temporary, it doesn’t last. Then you will have become as bad as those who have hurt you, and you will have to live with that.

 “Have you learned that now? Have you seen what life can truly be like when poisoned by revenge? Live, take that life you have and make it your own. Live! You’re born for a reason, always remember that. No one is ever truly without love.”

 They smiled and each slowly, but surely, thanked them.

\--

 In the center of Capital, the epicentre of the Evangelists existed in the form of an enormous Cathedral. Its tan stone and marble pillars glowed in the gentle light of the falling green rain. It shone brightly in the damp and the grass in the gardens smelt fresh and alive.

 The Pope, Lucifer Castiel, was standing on his personal balcony over the Holy Gardens. The rain was replenishing the painting pretty flowers and trees. Cardinal John Cid stood behind him in shock.

 They had seen the dead rise and walk. They had seen people turn to madness to ‘protect’ themselves and their families. This should not have shocked them. It should not have confused them and created the strangest of questions.

 They watched the teal smoke drift quickly into the ground as if it was being sucked up. It all seemed to focus around the burnt cross which had once marked the original place their religion had begun. It was once a marvellous wooden carving but it had been burnt into the pair to blackened stick over fifteen years ago by some delinquent.

 “This changes our plans Father John. My search has finally ended.” Lucifer laughed. He laughed and it carried over the Garden.

 

 

 

 

**END?̶̡̧̀͠**


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